Monday, September 28, 2009
Hard Days Night
Did anyone see Eugene White on Channel 6 news tonight talking about a longer school day and school year? Do you think we need one, or the other or both? Or should we just rearrange the calender to eliminate summer vacation? If we spend more time in school where will the money come from?
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No, I didn't see Dr. White on the news this evening; however, if what he supposedly said was about a longer school day, longer school year, and school on Saturdays is true, then he's simply parroting Obama's newest idea for CHANGE which hit the national news yesterday. I'm about tired of change; tired of Eugene White's change and even more tired of Obama's change. Am I alone in this feeling?
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. Students and teachers need summer vacation. Life is too short to be in school all the time.
ReplyDeleteI like change. It's what I'm living on since my paychecks aren't coming as IPS promised. We don't even get IOU's like California distributed. I don't think Citizen's Gas or Fifth Third would take IOU's, anyway.
ReplyDeleteYes, Dr. Twinkletoes is feverishly clicking his sequined red slippers, emulating Dorothy last night on TNT, wishing "There's no place like a home on Obama's team." And "parroting" was the perfect verb, having seen this evening's national news.
The money will come from nowhere. We'll simply have our contracted days extended with no increase in salary, just like when the state added five days to our school year.
I'd rather see all schools go to year-round, which has proven to prevent the predictable summer slump.
In today's IndyStar, a front page article inferred that, due to our ADM numbers, IPS has earned much more money from the state. How about a rush in the installation of air-conditioning in all parts of all schools, not just the office and library, still common in over half of our elementaries.
Our statistics show how well the lower elementary students and their teachers perform. Theoretically, these data should trend upward when the building occupants aren't dripping sweat on textbooks and papers.
Sadly, all middle- and high-schools in IPS already provide cooled classrooms, but their scores prove dismal, so my theory may be faulty.
Why would I question my decisions? I work in IPS.
Bummer.
How on earth could IPS have "lost" only 300 children? We had that many losses in my school alone!!!!
ReplyDeletePersonally I don't believe we need a longer school year or school on Saturdays. It is not within the government's purview to usurp the role and responsibility of the family and/or the community. We should be cautious and skeptical when a national leader espouses such measures guised as public education. Too many people are ready to jump on the bandwagon too quickly and without thinking where the wagon's headed.
ReplyDeleteDidn't we try this at John Marshall, and didn't it bomb?
ReplyDeleteQuote "If we spend more time in school where will the money come from?"
ReplyDeleteThe money will come from higher taxes that you and I will pay if we happen to live in Marion County. Or maybe from higher federal taxes. There's no such thing as a free lunch in IPS despite what many believe.
Who are we kidding here? We could keep these kids in school 365 days per year, and they would STILL be they same way they are now. Without discipline, it won't matter how long the f**king school year is.
ReplyDeleteDid Eugene have his ruby red slippers on when he was interviewed???
ReplyDeleteWait they have already figured out where the money will come from, they'll just take away some of the "paid vacation" you are already getting, check your checks, you are paid for ten days, yet only work 7.3. You'll just lose some of your paid vacation. It makes perfect sense, in IPS land.
ReplyDeleteI'm for standardizing the school start and end times. I want my elementary school child to be in school by 8 am, so I can get to work at a reasonable hour. I also want my high schooler to be in school until 4pm, instead of having 3 hours to do God-knows-what before I can get home from work.
ReplyDeleteI would also support a year-round schedule, but only if child care providers and after school programs also adjust. The year-round schedule involves breaks that are 3 weeks long, so we will need day camp or something similar.
To tell you the truth, as a parent, my child's day is too long as it is. Most kids aren't off the bus until 4:30 - 4:50. Add homework (45 mintues), and dinner (45 mintues) family time, and down time, thne bath and bed. My children are young and go to bed early, because of this they are well behaved and rested for the shcool day. Try to fit in an extra - cirrcular activity, afterschool club, or sport, and your night gets crazy.
ReplyDeleteI agree with previous poster, I have tried to have the board listen to changing the elementray school and high school start times. But they refuse to listen and read all of the literature on the subject matter.
According to the Enrollment data 1999-2003, May, 2004; 2004-2008, Jan. 09. Indiana Accountability System for Academic Progress © 2006 IDOE IPS had 4364 9th graders in the 05-06 school year. At the start of the 2008-09 year, IPS had 1416 12th graders left out if the 4364.
ReplyDelete“Weak promotion power” is defined as the ratio of twelfth graders to ninth graders over a four-year period; that is, the capacity to hold and promote students from ninth through twelfth grade. A school district has weak promotion power when < 50% of freshmen are in12th grade four years later. The 4364/1416 numbers are not just weak promotion power, but very weak promotion power. In fact, between 1990 and 2000, IPS was the only district in the USA where all of its high school had weak promotion power. Even in the large urban areas like DC or LA, the district had a least one high school with a rate > 50%. (groups.yahoo.com/group/smallschools/message/7771)
Requiring students to stay longer in failing schools does not make sense.
Creating schools where students want to be can help.
Welcome back Jose. Still planning a run for mayor? lmao!
ReplyDeleteAny added days to the 180 in the school year would have to be compensated by additional funds from the state. That is what happened in the '80's when the school year was extended from 175 days to 180. The ISTA made sure that the law provided the extra funds.
ReplyDeleteAs a parent, I don't want my children in school more than 40 hours per week. When we count homework, they already spend more time on school than most adults spend at full-time jobs.
ReplyDeleteBesides, study after study has shown that more school time only helps those who are behind. So expand summer school and tutoring programs and leave everyone else alone.
As to the person discussing "standardizing" school start and end times, they can't do that because of the buses. The transportation budget would triple if they couldn't use the same buses for elementary, middle, and high schools.
I don't agree with year round school but if they are going to do it, they need to do it for the entire system instead of just selected schools. The student mobility in the IPS system creates havac when a student changes from a year round school to a traditional calendar school or vice versa. They are either behind the rest of the class or possibly even ahead(which is not necessarily always an advantage).
ReplyDeleteHere is what parents really want:
ReplyDeleteCollect all of my children at 7:30 am. Take them to a high quality school where the teachers care and the students achieve. At 4:30 pm, bring them all home. Do this 5 days a week, 12 months a year. Allow me to take my children out of school for sickness or vacation, with a maximum cumulative total of 15 days. Stay open on holidays in case I don't get the day off.
Previous Poster -
ReplyDeleteDo not speak on all parents behalf. I do not want my children gone all day. I love our summer breaks together, and the days during the school year that they are home with me. I do not think of school as free day care. My children are gone from 8:20-4:15. And in my opinion it's too long. I visit them on lunches, and I volunteer in classrooms. You can say that I am not the norm, and maybe I am not. But don't clump us all together and think you understand what every single parent wants.
I agree with the above poster. Posting that about parents is no different than the people who act like teachers want parents to do all the teaching but the teachers want to collect the paychecks.
ReplyDeleteso, I didn't get a paycheck on the 25th...that was a payday, wasn't it? who do I contact?
ReplyDeletethanks..
If you don't even know who to contact, then you probably don't deserve one.
ReplyDeleteto the parents who visit their children at lunch and volunteer in classrooms and sit around wistfully dreaming of their little lambs...
ReplyDeleteGET A JOB.
hey! that was mean to say I probably don't deserve a paycheck if I don't know who to contact..you don't know my situation...I hope you have more graciousness and patience with your students...my comment, "that was a payday, wasn't it?" was said "tongue in cheek" - gee whiz..see if I ever ask anyone here for advice again! P.S. I did find out and they are sending it...guess they didn't figure out that I didn't deserve it!
ReplyDeletethe parents who visit their children at lunch and volunteer in the classroom do have a job...it is called "child rearing" and they are obviously not sitting around "wistfully dreaming of their little lambs" - they are helping teachers do their jobs. Is there no pleasing people...you complain that parents don't care, etc. etc. and then belittle parents who obviously are supportive and striving to provide the enviroment that will help their children succeed in school. Sounds a little like "sour grapes to me"!
ReplyDeleteActually, I do have a job. In fact I have more than one. I choose to work around my children and their needs. I also have a younger child still at home. I am involved in my neighborhood and other volunteer activities. I am not so wrapped up in my "little lambs" that i do not want them to grow up and leave home. I want to do the best job that I can while I have them with me, and I choose to enjoy that time to it's fullest. Just because i am involved in their lives, doesn't mean I have nothing to do. What is better than sitting with your child one and one for 20 minutes asking them about their day over a pb&j??
ReplyDeleteI wish more parents would visit our crazy, out-of-control school. A student was wrestling with a teacher, (who was trying to prevent a fight), & the girl didn't even get in trouble. NEXT, a student threw a chair across the room, hitting a teacher & hurting her knee, & the little monster got a whopping ONE day suspension. THEN, a little heathen hit a teacher, & got NOTHING but a day of in-school suspension. The principal hates to punish him because he's got family problems. Boo-hoo-hoo. Why can't these overly paid "directors" see what's going on in their schools????
ReplyDeleteOur school mantra is, "I am respectful...I am responsible." Hah! As out-of-control as they are, they should add "I am LYING" to that. We don't have discipline, we just coddle them, pat their little heads, and act all "warm and fuzzy," while the school goes to hell. And old "COW" does nothing. Mooooooooooo.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Bob-Hater this is a so called elementary magnet school that is being over run by rude and disrespectful students. The students are allowed to get away with next to murder( because the Principal feels so sorry for their poor home life). So instead of providing them with discipline and structure, she babies them and lets them have free rein of the school building. Principals like this need to be fired or put back in the classroom! Maybe someone needs to make a phone call to Sally Callahan..............hopefully she will clean house real soon!
ReplyDeleteSorry I meant Blob-Hater.........
ReplyDeleteIt's O.K., girl!
ReplyDeleteHow about digging into brain research that states little kids need to be in school earlier and older kids in school later? The little ones are spent by the afternoon and the older ones are just waking up by then. I know that parents rely on their older kids to watch the little ones because they go to work, but certainly we could find a better way to help parents than this crazy schedule we have now. I'm in favor of distributing the 180 days differently, but let's look at the school start and end times as it relates to the elementary and middle/high school kids. Aren't we supposed to put children first???
ReplyDeleteWay back when, I taught in a rural school, and the first graders still took naps at home, I had them for music after lunch, and they would often fall asleep in their chairs and slide off onto the floor. LOL
ReplyDeleteSomeone needs to do something at Tech before something really bad happens there. It is totally out of control........
ReplyDeletePersonally, I would like to one of our traditional high schools (non magnet like Key) try a year round calendar. Maybe Northwest, Manual, or Arsenal Tech.
ReplyDeleteI would be interested in teaching at that school and seeing if the scores increase to to the shorter summer break. Maybe all three and let the community schools do a traditional calendar. Wonder what the differences in scores would be like?
Sounds like Tech is being run like our magnet elementary school. Something bad is going to happen when a Principal only has 2 teachers on lunch/recess duty watching over 150-175 students. It is a recipe for disaster! These students fight and play inappropriately during recess and where is the Principal when you call for help(no where to be found). This is a liability issue and I will not take the fall for a Principal being incompetent concerning the welfare and care of students that are being placed in a dangerous situation. Shouldn't the Union be involved in this? Can a greivance be filed on this Principal for not providing adequate coverage of students on lunch/recess duty? Just what the "Hell" are the Regional Directors doing about these incompetent Principals( they need to be replaced ASAP)!
ReplyDelete"How about digging into brain research that states little kids need to be in shcool earlier..."
ReplyDeleteLike I stated before, I gathered all that info for the board. Mary Busch told me she worked so hard to change that years ago for her kids, and that's how it should be. Dr. White told me to mention it again in 2010. This was the summer of 2008. I plan to mention it again. What happens is the younger children are out on busstops alone, cause parnets have to be at work before 9am. Last year, I drove by many bus stops at the beginning of the year, where children were left alone for hours, sue to the bus troubles. It is not safe.
The brain research suggests that lieelt kids should be in school from about 7:30 to 2:30, while older kids would learn more if they attended from about 9-4. Yet this is exactly opposite of what we do! The older ones sleep through the first 2 periods and then get 2-3 hours after school to raise mayhem. Meanwhile, the little ones are home alone for an hour in the morning, then mentally exhausted well before the day is done.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the people talking and complaining about out of control classes need to go back to school or to some workshops on how to effectively manage classroom behavior. Try taking a look at your self and what you are doing before placing the blame on someone else. You're taking the easy way out. If you're class is out of control, and you aren't changing what you are doing, then who's the slow learner? If something isn't working, change it!
ReplyDeleteWow! I am spellbound by the advice given above.
ReplyDeleteHow utterly profound. I humbly bow before you.