Snow Make-Up Day Next Friday, January 27th

 From SPS:

Seattle Public Schools will hold classes on Friday, Jan. 27 as a snow make-up day.

No school was scheduled for next Friday, a professional development day for staff, but instead will be used as a make-up day for one of the three snow days this week, as outlined in the 2011-12 school calendar.

A determination on making up the additional snow days, most likely at the end of the school year, will be decided next week.

“It is important to get our students back in the classroom next week,” said Interim Superintendent Dr. Susan Enfield. “We know some families may have made out-of-town plans for next Friday, and we apologize for any inconvenience this causes.”

There will still be a three-hour early dismissal on Tuesday, Jan. 24 for a scheduled furlough day for teachers and staff represented by the Seattle Education Association (SEA). That day cannot be used as a snow make-up day.

Comments

Benjamin Leis said…
How do the furloughs work? Wouldn't it be cheaper to have a full day now rather than an extra one at the end of the year?
Ben
Anonymous said…
No, we can't work for three hours on Jan 24 because they can't pay us. But we can work 18/7 the rest of the year. Our furlough day in August resulted in most of us having to do double time to make up for it since we are always in there working anyway.

Smoke and mirrors. The Bethel School District admin ate their teacher salary reduction and teachers were fully paid for services rendered. Anybody know if other school districts managed to eat it without penalizing teachers?

Our school was planning to work the 27th anyway because we had to get in district-mandated tri time. There's never enough time. So now we'll reschedule that time probably requiring another work day in June.

It never ends.

Ben - we have mid-winter break coming up. We've used it before. Why not now? I don't know the answer to that.

northender
Anonymous said…
any chance of begging the district to take some days from winter break as make-up days? How are these kids going to get enough school to get momentum going? Just when they are in a groove, it's time for more days off.

WV= dismav

Sign me,

dismaved
Dismaved, unlikely because that is part of the teachers contract. However, write to the SEA and Dr. Enfield and ask if this is something they would meet and agree to quickly. Maybe they would like to not do the time at the end of the year.

It never hurts to ask.
Lori said…
I would be opposed to changing the school calendar at this point to get rid of mid-winter break. Personally, I am not a fan of mid-winter break and I will be glad to see it gone next year. It's disruptive and unnecessary given all the other time off we get during the year.

But, for this current year, families and teachers and staff have arranged their own schedules around the calendar that was approved by the Board in May 2011. That calendar spelled out what days would be make-up days and the week of mid-winter break was not part of the deal. How would the district balance the desires of some to still get out June 20 versus others who may have made travel plans for mid-winter break, just 4 weeks from now? I suspect that revoking mid-winter break would make more people angry than simply going along with the calendar as designed.

Then again, maybe the governor's declaration of an emergency will supersede the need to make up all the days!
Anonymous said…
My young family will be taking unexcused absences next Friday and feel AOK about that. Plans have long been made for family activity that day.

I have no problem with the District reporting my children unexcused. By law the district has to make up the day. Each entity does what is best for that entity.

Keeping Calm and Carrying On
Anonymous said…
Ben, I think I confused you!

Furlough- unpaid time due to salary reduction by the legislature resulting in less money to districts. We are not allowed to work and cannot access buildings. It is a District-mandated "no-work" day.

The 27th is, I believe, the day between semesters and is not included in our calendar at all. My understanding is that high school teachers needed a day (unpaid) to prepare report cards. That's second hand so take it with a grain of salt. In any case, it is not a recognized school day unless a school staff chooses to work it to justify TRI. That is why it can be turned into a make-up day just like adding a day in the summer can be considered a make-up day. Those days are outside the regular school calendar.

TRI - extra time pay that was originally granted teachers to pay for all the extra hours put into teaching. We used to keep logs of extra time which could be audited showing that we actually earned that extra pay. It is outside our base pay and never accrues for purposes of raises or other benefits. It simply reimburses for time spent on teaching. My school scheduled TRI on the 27th because it was outside the regular school year.


I hope this was clear. If I'm wrong, let me know.

northender
DaveDoc said…
Snow make-up days instead of a "professional development" day? Just goes to show you what a joke these pro.dev. days really are. Just ask ANY truthful teacher!
Anonymous said…
DaveDoc: That PD will be done another day and you and your staff will have to find the time. That's the way I understand it.

n...

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