Forums Spark Discussion Between Reed School And Parents On ‘Day Six’

BY ELIZA HALLABECK

Following a growing concern expressed by Reed Intermediate School parents, Principal Sharon Epple welcomed 15 parents on Wednesday, October 13, for the first parent forum at her school.

By e-mail, Dr Epple had announced the forums on October 5, by saying, “Do you have questions about our six-day cycle schedule? Do you wonder how our schedule changed this year? Do you have questions about Day Six? Do you wonder what your child is doing during a Day Six? Do you want to know more about our assemblies? Do you want to know how we balance all our curriculum?”

Parents were asked to RSVP to the Wednesday forum or one for Friday, October 15, or one scheduled for Tuesday, October 19. For communication purposes, the e-mail said, the groups for each forum are limited to 45.

The 15 parents attending the first forum were gathered at the center of the school’s cafeteria. Dr Epple said a slideshow presentation had been developed to help communicate the school’s choice to change Reed’s schedule to a six-day cycle, with a blocked schedule on the sixth day.

With the reduction of three teachers, according to both Dr Epple and Reed Intermediate School Assistant Principal Anthony Salvatore, who was also present for the presentation, the school was left with a five-day cycle requiring seven periods, only seven of ten unified arts periods that could be scheduled, and a loss of instructional time due to shorter periods over the year. The removal of the three positions was made in the first round of the 2010-2011 in Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson’s proposed budget.

At the first forum Dr Epple said has roughly 40 more students are attending the school this year over last year’s enrollment numbers. By phone on Monday, October 18, Dr Epple said current enrollment is closer to 30 students more over last year’s enrollment numbers.

The number of staff, Dr Salvatore said at the forum, determines the number of scheduling spots available to students.

One parent in attendance, Laura Roche, asked why Reed’s numbers conflicted with school enrollment numbers from the Board of Education and Dr Robinson.

The school board lists enrollment projections on its website, as prepared by H.C. Planning Consultants on August 20, as up by 18 students in both grade 5 and 6 from projections made during the budget season in January. However, the same report lists a total 35-student increase over the 2009-2010 academic year overall.

When asked on Wednesday about the enrollment difference, Dr Robinson said enrollment at Reed is definitely up. She said if the changes to Reed Intermediate School’s schedule were made due to the school’s schedule rotation, it was probably a change for the good. She also said, during the budget season, decisions were made due to lower enrollment numbers.

At the forum, Dr Epple said the difference in enrollment numbers is due to comparing the projected numbers and the actual numbers. Regardless of the enrollment numbers, Dr Epple said, from her educational experience, having 25 students per classroom is too many.

As Dr Salvatore explained to the parent group, Reed had two choices for its schedule this year. The first, Choice A in the slideshow presentation, would provide for 960.75 hours of instructional time over a five-day cycle. The second, Choice B, would provide 961.85 hours of instructional time, with 30 assembles of 70 minutes each included. The schedule was determined, he said, by a team from the school. Scheduling has parameters that must be filled in first, according to Dr Salvatore.

“Health, as you know, is required by law,” said Dr Salvatore when explaining one of those parameters.

Originally the 70-minute assembly period was scheduled as a health and guidance program, but the teacher who was assigned the period left for a higher paying school district. Dr Salvatore said other teachers stepped up to take on teaching the assemblies, and, later in the meeting, said teacher schedules are being monitored to see how the sixth day in the schedule is being used.

Other parameters in scheduling included the national Response To Intervention program, which provides students with extra help when needed.

“The reality is,” Dr Salvatore said, “we lost staff. Not blaming the budget, we lost staff.”

To help accommodate the open blocks in the schedule, Dr Salvatore said Reed library/media specialist Virginia Snowden offered to add the school’s accelerated reader program into the schedule. A library period was also added into the schedule. In previous schedules teachers had to sign up for library time.

“We always had a Day Six,” said Dr Salvatore. “We just called it something different this year.”

Dr Epple also clarified the assembly time scheduled in the sixth day of the school schedule was not created for teacher discretional time. According to the slideshow, fifth grade and sixth grade teachers use the assembly times for team meetings and as a contractual prep period.

As presented compared to the 2009-2010 schedule, the 2010-2011 schedule instructional time for writing and language arts is up by 120 minutes; for math, instructional hours are down by 45 minutes; for science instructional time is up by 155 minutes; and for social studies instructional time is up by 155 minutes. According to the slideshow, those numbers were based solely on the first five days of the 2010-2011 schedule, and did not take the sixth day into consideration.

Reed parent Judy Dubois expressed concern over the number of instructional hours for math being reduced in the schedule. According to the slideshow, math was also integrated into the science curriculum, and, “Our math instruction overall is highly effective as evidenced by a variety of date (CMT, common unit assessments, and mid and end year tests.)”

Ms Roche said her student reported reading for the accelerated reader program during the schedule’s learning lab block also, giving her child three reading periods a week when combined with the library period and the accelerated reader period.

“That’s a lot of independent reading,” she said.

After the forum, Ms Roche said in her perspective, parents are upset over a lack of consistency among the school’s clusters, blaming the budget for changes at the school, the assemblies as a whole, and parents want more instructional time for their students.

Before attending the forum, Ms Roche said eight parents got together to review their concerns. The eight mothers each represented different clusters and different grade levels, and each woman reported her child spending time during the sixth day in the schedule differently.

“People were very upset on the assemblies as a whole,” she said. According to Ms Roche, the first three topics for the assemblies were on bullying. When administrators were approached, she added later, “They kept coming back that it is mandated by the state.”

After the forum, Ms Roche still expressed concern over the amount of independent reading occurring during the learning lab block, the library block, and during the accelerated reader block.

“There are so many things they could be doing with that time,” she said. Adding later, “We want them to be able to do more with our children, and with independent reading it’s not happening.”

Ms Roche also said Dr Epple and Dr Salvatore were “very generous with their time.” The forum had been scheduled to happen between 9 am and 10 am, but was allowed to continue until 11:30 am, when the cafeteria was needed for student lunches.

On Monday, October 18, Dr Epple said the forums were continuing well, and she was still encouraging interested parents to attend the scheduled Tuesday, October 19, forum.

“Our parents are educated, caring, and supportive,” she said. “They want what is best for their children.”

Dr Epple said feedback from parents at the forums is being used along with suggestions from teachers to consider scheduling tweaks that may be put into action for the school’s next schedule rotation, which will start at the beginning of November. Two Reed parents will also attend a meeting with a “scheduling guru,” who is expected to visit the school in the next week to speak to the scheduling group, according to Dr Epple.

Dr Epple said overall feedback has been helpful, and the original concern expressed by parents seemed to be soothed by the presentation of information regarding the scheduling change. According to Dr Salvatore, the presentation slideshow should become available for parents on the school’s website, www.newtown.k12.ct.us/ris/, by Thursday, October 21.