Parents Frustrated—

Reed Schedule Changes Are Still Under Review

By Eliza Hallabeck

Resident Laura Roche took issue with Board of Education member Richard Gaines at the board’s Tuesday, November 16, meeting, saying scheduling issues at the Reed Intermediate School were not caused by a decreased budget compared to last year.

To her, Ms Roche said, the scheduling problems that have been under her microscope since late September, were caused by the new schedule alone.

Ms Roche was not alone in monitoring the schedule change this school year. After attending open house events at the school between September 13 and 23, parents expressed a growing concern over the schedule. Principal Sharon Epple and Assistant Principal Anthony Salvatore responded by holding three parent forum meetings to discuss the schedule with parents.

“It’s a very frustrating thing to hear, because I do agree and understand the budget,” said Ms Roche to the school board. “But when you say this is a budget issue, I have to respectfully disagree, because I believe this is a scheduling issue. In regard to the rotations, it has been said we have lost two rotations. We lost Music Tech and Project Adventure. It has also been discovered and agreed to by Dr Epple that in sixth grade we lost Music Tech and Project Adventure, but we gained DARE and we gained a guidance program. So there is no loss for sixth grade in regard to rotation. For fifth grade we lost Music Tech. So, for fifth grade we lost one rotation, that’s it.”

By the time the Board of Education held its first Coffee With The Board meeting at Newtown Middle School on October 27, Ms Roche and eight other mothers had written a letter and gathered 100 signatures regarding the new schedule at Reed.

At the parent forum meetings, as previously reported in The Bee, Ms Roche said the message was clear: Parents did not agree with the 2010-2011 schedule at Reed and were not happy.

The letter further explained parents were initially concerned with the new schedule for the sixth day in the schedule.

“These changes caused us to review the entire schedule,” the letter read. “While we are not education specialists, the schedule is not benefiting our children, and we find the current Day 6 model to be unacceptable in carrying out the core curriculum.”

Instruction Requirements

Since the October 27 Coffee With The Board, meetings on the Reed schedule have been held between parents and Dr Epple, with the latest on Friday, November 19.

Dr Epple told the parents gathered at the school on Friday that required minutes of instruction had been presented to teachers, and she was waiting to receive revised schedules from some teachers. Required instruction time, in minutes, for the six-day cycle period for grade five were listed as 252 for reading, 120 for the Accelerated Reader program, 294 for language arts, 284 for math, 126 for social studies held three times a cycle, and 126 for science, which is also held three times a cycle. For grade six, required minutes of instruction were listed at 252 for reading, 120 for the Accelerated Reader program, 252 for language arts, 294 for math, 210 for social studies, and 210 for science.

In order to compile the new required instruction time, Dr Epple said she looked at other schools in Newtown’s District Reference Group, and at Reed’s schedule from last year. While she said she is still waiting for schedules to be handed in from teachers, most are near being finalized for implementation at the school.

“Now there really shouldn’t be much fluctuation,” said Dr Epple, regarding the different clusters’ schedules.

When it came to the Accelerated Reader program, Dr Epple and the parents tried to find a common way to define the program. In the schedule implemented in September, Accelerated Reader was brought out as a separate class period. In the past, Accelerated Reader was held at the teacher’s discretion and was scheduled between the library/media specialist and the teacher. Ms Roche asked Dr Epple on Friday whether Accelerated Reader is now being held at the teacher’s discretion and if it is part of the school’s scheduled Learning Lab periods. All agreed, defining Accelerated Reader as a goal of 120 minutes in the sixth day cycle, with flexibility, was the best way to explain the program.

With one cluster, Dr Epple said the teacher requested keeping the blocked period for Accelerated Reader rather than remove it for another time.

Ms Roche said it is frustrating to hear one thing during scheduling meetings, and to hear another thing as a parent from both students and teachers.

“I’ve told the teachers to make sure to be really deliberate when communicating with students, so they know,” said Dr Epple.

Speaking as a resident and Reed parent, Legislative Council member Kathryn Fetchick said she knows there will be variations in the schedule occasionally, but she wants to hear that teachers are doing what the school said they would do.

The four parents on Friday each said they had heard Accelerated Reader is being considered as a language arts grade, which they were told would not happen.

Dr Epple was unaware this was happening.

Resident Mimi Beardsley said she saw potential for progress moving forward with the schedule, and was appreciative of Dr Epple taking time to meet with them on the issues. Ms Fetchick asked near the end of the meeting for Dr Epple to send an announcement out to teachers and parents when everything is finalized stating what is expected of the schedule to keep everything as equal between the clusters as possible.

The New Schedule

Despite an announcement made during previous Board of Education meetings, Reed’s new schedule was not implemented for the start of the new marking period on November 11. Another meeting between parents and Dr Epple is set for November 30, roughly nine weeks since parents first voiced their concern over the schedule.

The new schedule, as Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson announced at the school board’s last meeting, will have a rotating schedule for the planned Day 6 in the school’s schedule. For example, the first Day 6 in the rotation will be the same schedule as Day 1, the second Day 6 in the rotation will have the same schedule as Day 2. The sixth Day 6 in the schedule, she said, will hold the grade assemblies. Also in the new schedule, Accelerated Reader will be taken out of the schedule and will be implemented at the teacher’s direction.

Following Friday’s meeting, Ms Roche was frustrated after learning of another teacher still having Accelerated Reader as a blocked class period in the class’s rotation.

In a letter to Dr Robinson on November 9, Ms Roche and Ms Beardsley wrote they felt progress was being made, and that parents are hopeful the changes will “occur in an expeditious manner.”

“After looking at our calendars there is a consensus that three weeks is too long to follow up on the work that needs to be done. It would be much more productive if we could meet before Thanksgiving break,” the letter read. “Additionally, we wanted to recap our meeting and be clear on the issues that are to be addressed: Vacant [Accelerated Reader] time will be put into core instructional subjects (language arts/writing, reading, math, science, and social studies,) [Accelerated Reader] will be moved to Learning Lab and library as to not take away from core instruction, [Accelerated Reader] will be redefined within Learning Lab, and the amount of core instructional time will be consistent across all clusters.”

On Friday, Dr Epple said she is excited about the new schedules, but does not feel they are ready yet.

Ms Roche said she wants to make sure what is happening on paper is happening in the classroom.

“It’s about the kids,” said Dr Epple during the meeting. “That’s what really binds us. Our process is really to make sure they get the best education they can get.”