For Staff Development—

Superintendent Responds To Criticisms Of Early Release Plan

By Eliza Hallabeck

The Board of Education voted unanimously at a June 15 meeting to release students early on the first Wednesday of each month, starting in October, for teachers and administrators to hold professional learning community meetings. Since that time, there has been reaction from the community, both in Letters to the Editor in The Bee and more directly to Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson.

Dr Robinson recently addressed the issue and the criticisms.

“The first eight to ten emails I got,” Dr Robinson said, “had something to do with kindergarten.”

The emails questioned Dr Robinson with the assumption that the Wednesday releases were scheduled for a purpose connected to kindergarten students, she said, but the early release days will be for all teachers, kindergarten through twelfth grade, to meet to discuss curriculum.

According to a release sent home to parents last month, and reported in The Bee at the time, students will be dismissed according to the district’s planned early dismissal schedule on the first Wednesday of each month, starting in October. The early dismissal schedule is available on the Newtown Public Schools website, www.newtown.k12.ct.us.

Assistant Superintendent Linda Gejda explained the school district is hoping to rectify any inequality in the kindergarten schedule that may occur between the morning and afternoon classes due to the planned early dismissals by scheduling one class, either morning or afternoon, to be held on certain days. According to the district’s website, only morning kindergarteners will attend school on the first three early dismissal dates, October 6, November 3, and December 1. After those dates the district will determine which class attends school on the early dismissal days.

During the winter months, as Dr Gejda explained, it is more common for morning kindergarten classes to be canceled, and holding morning kindergarten on the first three early dismissal days should help to equal time spent in the classroom between the two kindergarten options.

“At that time, a decision will be made as to which session will attend for the next three months [January, February, March],” the district’s announcement reads. “In March, an announcement will be made identifying the kindergarten session that will attend in April, May, and June.”

Other questions Dr Robinson said she has been receiving from parents, ask why teachers cannot meet on their own time or during lunch.

“Nobody understands that the seven schools are on different schedules,” said Dr Robinson. “There is no way to have them together. If the high school gets out at 2 pm, the last school gets out at 3 pm, there is no common time, and we are trying to create a common time.”

Dr Robinson said she understands it is difficult to look at the bigger picture while worrying about child care, but said the early dismissals provide valuable time for the teachers and administration.

“We’re doing what the research tells us effective schools do,” she said. “Education Connection runs after-school child care at each of the lower level schools. They will simply open that up earlier.”

The Education Connection after-school programs are not free, but Dr Robinson said they are run as affordably as possible. According to Dr Robinson, Education Connection will also set up a once-a-month program at Reed Intermediate School for students who do not participate in the after-school program already. A letter will be sent to parents in the fall to determine how many students will be using the service.

“We’re trying to find accommodations for parents so that they can feel comfortable that there is daycare, and inexpensive daycare,” she said.

Making time for teachers to meet, she said, is a priority, and having the district release students early one Wednesday a month provides the district with a no-cost solution. The time, she said, will be used to bring grade level teachers together and to bring teachers who teach the same subjects together from each grade level.

“Every student,” she said, as an example of one expected result from the meetings, “regardless of which elementary school they are in, should have the same high quality instruction.”

In response to one letter to the editor, Dr Robinson said Education Connections has always supplied programs on a sliding scale.

“So if there is something [parents] can’t afford,” Dr Robinson said, regarding after-school programs, “then there are accommodations for them.”

Newly voted Board of Education Chair William Hart said, as parents, the school board did grapple with deciding on the issue, but said allowing teachers the time to hold scheduled meetings is a high priority.

“The teachers already spend a lot of their own time grading papers and doing other tasks,” said Mr Hart, adding many teachers also perform after school duties like coaching. “…The fact and reality of it is you need scheduled meeting times.”

The staff meetings will be time for teachers and administrators to discuss structure and analyze current academic practices, according to Mr Hart, who added such time is a necessity of quality education.

Releasing students early one Wednesday a month, Dr Robinson said, will not hinder time in the classroom due to adding five minutes to the school day last year and this coming school year.

“And, actually the following year we will be adding five minutes to the day,” Dr Robinson said, “but for right now it will be ten minutes more per day; 183 days times the ten minutes [adds roughly 30 hours of classroom time]. Taking two hours out of nine months is only 18 hours, so we are still ahead by 12 hours.”

Full schedules and calendars for the 2010-2011 school year are posted at the district website, and any further questions regarding early dismissals can be handled by the superintendent’s office at 203-426-7620, according to the July release.