Seattle Schools Posts Info On 20-Minute Added School Day
This story was put out sometime on Wednesday. (partial)
Timeline for Finalization of the 2017-18 School Schedules:
To improve K-12 students’ academic access and achievement, the Seattle Education Association (SEA) and Seattle Public Schools (SPS) agreed to add 20 minutes of core instructional time to the school day starting in the 2017-18 school year. This action also brings our instructional hours into alignment with other districts in the region.
In addition, SEA and SPS agreed to add teacher collaboration time into the work day to support common planning time and improved student outcomes.
Your input and feedback is valued.I'm a little confused about the feedback part because they already did a survey (with 11,000 respondents). But...
To provide additional feedback to staff and the Seattle School Board please email arrivaltimes@seattleschools.org.Recommendations informed by stakeholders and community engagement:
In 2017-18, all K-12 students will be dismissed one hour early in support of teacher collaboration. Every stakeholder group (families, partners, teachers and principals) preferred the one-hour a week early release over late arrival.However:
The early release once a week will be on Wednesdays. Wednesday was the day preferred by principals and school staff. While Fridays were preferred by the majority of families and partners, mid-week collaboration better supports the SEA/SPS partnership goals.
The addition of twenty minutes will be split between the morning and afternoon. Current Tier 1 families (early start schools) wanted to add the 20 minutes at the end of the day. Current Tier 2 and 3 families (late start schools) want to add the time to the beginning of the day. Splitting the difference (10/10) was the second preferred choice by all stakeholders (families, staff, and partners), so 10 minutes will be added to the morning schedule and 10 minutes to the afternoon schedule.
Timeline for Finalization of the 2017-18 School Schedules:
As mentioned, the staff recommendation is to split the additional 20 minutes, 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes in the afternoon, if the district continues to have three different school start times.I'll have to ask but is the district saying that changing to two tiers of bus service will cost an additional $3.8M to implement AND it will cost about $1M to implement the changes around boundaries? Because one thing I hear, over and over, is how Pegi McEvoy is looking for ways to save transportation dollars to afford this. I'm not sure it's plausible by "increased efficiencies" to find $4.8M dollars.
The outstanding consideration is if we can afford to move to a two tier bus system (two start times). We know this is preferred by some families, especially those currently in Tier 3, the schools with the latest start time.
We estimate this change could cost up to 3.8 million dollars, and while these costs may be reduced through different transportation scenarios and may be a one-time cost depending on state funding, it will add to the $71 million dollar budget shortfall we are facing because of the legislature’s failure to fully fund public education.
Decisions regarding the number of start times (three versus two) and implementation of the associated transportation standards will be influenced by the School Board’s budgeting process. The 2017-18 bell schedules will be finalized and communicated in January.
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Confused
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Add in with this the widespread suspicion that we will be moving to a trimester schedule over there in a year (probably not) or two (probably), and it'll all be up in the air. But that's the other side of the lake -- I'm just saying, the extra hour on Wednesday really buys more teacher time IN THE CLASSROOM at other times.
2scents
My eight year old is not available before 8 am.
1) SPS knew about this change in the contract last year, so why did we have a bell time change this year, and now another one next year? Why not wait, and implement everything at one, to minimize the disruption on families and staff.
2) So, the contract will add 80 minutes of instructional time each week, AND take 60 away? Instead of just adding 5 minutes a day, and calling it even, they want to mandate planning time, add an early release day to parents' schedules, and mess with the schedule the other four days a week, yet again? Could this be any messier?
3) Our tier 1 elem school starts at 7:55 now. That's 40 minutes earlier than last year. Next year--despite lots of objections from tier 1 parents, we are supposed to start even earlier, at 7:45 am. I know the district is obsesses with the idea that teenagers are supposed to be getting more sleep, but who EVER said elementary school kids don't also need sleep? I never hear a peep about that. They are NOT all up early.
4) I know the bell time changes needed to be revenue neutral for SPS this year, but guess what? They weren't revenue neutral for me. Our aftercare costs went up by $150 per month, so $1500 a year, to cover the extra hour of time that after care needs to cover. Not revenue neutral in my book. I can anticipate that costs will go up again for the 1 hour early release day.
My son is in 2nd grade. Every year so far has been a battle with the district (removing a teacher from our school, bell time changes, the strike, and now this). Why is it that SPS seems to always make things as complicated as humanly possible, and to utterly disregard the wishes of working families? 7:45 is too early for little kids to walk to and be in school. Enough is enough.
~Alex
The board is going to have to put a stop to this plan.
Tier 3
Roll with it...it's free.
Call Olympia
You mean my tax dollars don't go toward public education? And those checks we write to the PTSA and for basic school supplies aren't real money?
Maybe they should have little kids go to school in the middle of the night instead, since bus commutes would be shorter, right?
Free MyA$$
The problem with SPS is parents complaining about any inconvenience to their lives. SPS is trying to serve 50,000 students and trying to find a happy medium for all involved.
Incredible that people complain about 10 minutes.
By the way, teachers should not have to work after school for free.
So teachers shouldn't have to work after school for free. But the the district is reducing our planning by 20 minutes each day in exchange for an hour of "collaborative" time (there is NO way that hour won't be mandated). Remember, the student day is lengthened here, not the teacher day.
How exactly am I supposed to do my job when I have no time to plan, assess or modify my instruction and any "extra" time is filled with the meaningless data generation the district demands?
This time change will absolutely increase the already substantial unpaid time that I and every other teacher puts in just get the bare minimum done. Other parents are already telling you the real impact it will have on their lives.
No, you can't please everyone but you don't have to blindly careen from one fad to another just for the sake of saying you're doing something. That is what is this district does.
- secretidentity