The plans presented to the Newton School Committee range from high schools starting at 8 a.m., just 10 minutes later than Newton North’s current time, to starting as late as 9 a.m., the TAB’s Laura Lovett reports.
UPDATED with video (thanks Steve Siegel) starting at minute 99 in this NewTV video. The presentation and Q&A total about 1-1/4 hours:
I’m tired of calling this School Committee a bunch of pathetic losers. Although I think that is an entirely accurate term. But a friend of mine named Kim, who used to blog here, had a term of derision that is perhaps more apropos… “Clowns”!
Seriously, these folks have turned their backs on high school kids for years, by failing to adequately address the proven health issues associated with early morning start times. Through their inaction, they have exposed thousands of Newton teens to sleep deprivation, increased stress levels, and depression. It’s not only child abuse, it also constitutes the grossest dereliction of duty I have ever witnessed from a group of elected officials. Not one of them is worthy of their office.
@Mike: I commend you on your dogged determination to see this issue addressed but now I now I respectfully would like to challenge you to put your anger on hold and weigh on the actual solutions that have or will be proposed. Yes, you’re mad. Yes, you want everyone fired. But what do you think of what’s being recommended and how could it be improved?
It’s ass backward, Greg. This is a critical health issue for thousands of students, and the School Committee is putting health last. First, ignoring the problem for years. Then choosing to dwell on the details, rather than actually making the change in start times. There’s nothing wrong with planning. But we have a crisis of stress among our high school students. And it’s been at crisis stage for more than a decade. Rather than address the crisis by fixing the problem directly, the School Committee is still trying to figure out how to make the buses run on time.
But Mike,you need to have the buses run on time to run this school system.
Should that take years to figure out?
@mike: No it should not have taken so long. But it still has to be done.
The obvious solution that is best for children is to stop early release Tuesdays.
This would enable a delay in start times with minimal impact to end of day school times and extracurricular activities, while maintaining the same instructional time.
We should all be outraged that this isn’t the proposed solution.
Total failure by the school committee and Mayor Warren.
…a public forum in October, and then another cycle of review.
Sorry, I am with Mike, I have yet to hear a single member of the school committee object to snails pace of this process. I have not heard a thing from the Mayor either.
I hold the Mayor most responsible, as a member of the School Committee, he has the influence to have made this policy change happen for this year. He chose to let this drag on.
I find it incredibly disheartening, that there is such a disconnect in this community. We have Councilors and citizens grand standing about the health impact of leaf blowers, making unsubstantiated claims; but total silence when it comes to what is clearly a link between sleep deprivation and health issues, including depression. Unlike other issues, there are well researched studies showing these links.
… and yet, another cycle of review.
Newton Public Schools have lead in the water and anti Semitic hate being spread across at least two schools and no action is being taken. Not only is no action being taken but there is evidence to suggest that things are being covered up. The school committee, the NPS administration, and the Mayor don’t care about the children of Newton physically or emotionally.
@Greg– Do you find any fault with the School Committee for the delay?
@Mike: The word “fault” seems counter-productive but I certainly agree that this responsibility lays with our school committee and, like you, I wish they had found a solution years ago.
But, as we’ve discussed over the years, I care about the repercussions any delay might have. You don’t.
For example, I worry about the impact on extra-curricular activities: school sports, theater, debate team, a school newspaper, band, etc and as well as afterschool jobs. You say that doesn’t matter to you. But for some kids those after school activities are the most valuable, life-defining, part of their entire high school experience. (I was a theater nerd in my day.) I worry about the cost to taxpayers in the form of renegotiated teacher and other contracts. You say that doesn’t matter to you.
But mostly, I say that instead of repeatedly calling to put the school committee, David Fleisman and the mayor in front of a firing squad, why not take the time to understand the reasons it has not happened yet and help find solutions?
Really, why haven’t you? Because your approach hasn’t worked.
The headmaster of Boston Latin School resigned today. Fleishman and Turner should follow suit.
@Greg– I’ve never suggested after school activities don’t matter. To the contrary, I believe those experiences have equal importance to any classroom experience. What I’ve said in the past is simple… Change the early morning start times first, and the rest of the pieces will come together. Instead, it’s a classic case of the tail wagging the dog.
I am however glad to see you agree with me that the School Committee should have addressed early morning start times years ago. But I believe our disagreement is in large part based on the level of harm each of us perceives to have been caused by their inaction. I think its had tragic consequences, and contributed to an epidemic of stress among our teen students. While you don’t believe the consequences even rise to the level of assessing blame. There’s a reason for that distinct difference of opinion. I believe it’s the abstract nature between cause and effect related to this specific issue.
If for example classroom lighting at North and South were proven to be medically linked to stress and depression in students, I think you and everyone else would agree that the lights needed to be changed right away. But because we’re talking about something more abstract, a time of day, with the added component of sleep deprivation as a conduit to the more serious consequences of stress and depression, the cause doesn’t seem as apparent, and the health threat doesn’t appear quite as imminent. I think this mental disconnect between the source of the problem [early morning start times], and the results [sleep deprivation, stress, and depression], for a long time contributed to the lack of outcry from parents.
But the times they are a-changing, in more ways than one. More people are now rightfully faulting the School Committee and the Mayor. And I feel confident that the pressure will eventually lead to a change in early morning start times. As for your assertion that my “approach hasn’t worked,” I respectfully disagree. I’ve done everything within my ability as a citizen to call the public’s attention to this issue. I’m proud of any contribution I’ve made toward change.
As Mike said, “Change the early morning start times first, and the rest of the pieces will come together.” The school committee should have voted to make a change to an 8:30 or 9:00 start time, and then used next year to figure out the specifics. What information is needed before a decision is made?
Mark my words–I predict no change in start times in Fall of 2017.
What is the predisposition to not want to assess responsibility for public officials?
The word “fault” is counterproductive? Why?
If there is fault, then why not assess it? Should we not find “fault” with the decision to change the water supply which led to the lead in the water, and the slow response, in Flint Michigan?
If you answer yes to the second, but hesitate regarding the first, then Mike is clearly correct, it is a matter of magnitude on health that someone perceives.
It seems those who want to focus only on a solution, not look at the “anatomy” of poor response to a problem; would be placing less emphasis on the health impact on children, in this case. (Not to mention, setting us up for another poor response in the future.)
When clear evidence presents itself, there is no excuse to delay action. This is and has been a health issue for far too long, which can easily be remedied for the vast majority of students.
There is no solution which will satisfy everyone. But there is a solution.
This is a policy issue which should have taken no longer than a week to reach an action plan. It is not rocket science, we are talking about starting the school day 30-50 minutes later.
The School Committee takes its own sweet time and does things on their schedule. Not the kids and not the parents. There is alot to juggle as a member of the school committee, however I have found their inaction (and the superintendent’s inaction) awful.
1. The leader of the school plagiarizes, and the result is pathetic. After much discussion he loses one week pay. Many high school students have flunked a class because of that bad decision, and the result is devastating.
2. Hiding anti-semitism and not taking a leadership role when it happens. The principal right up to the superintendent. Both of them tried to sweep it under the rug.
3. Lead in the water – and back in the day, the remediation was to put a sign above the sink that it was not to be used for drinking. That isn’t remediation. And not to test the water again after a faucet is fixed is ridiculous. Again, bad decision making.
4. The urgency of moving Angier and Zervas mid year because of the school committee. Not that any child wants to be disrupted in January and have a new routine. Lets really mess things up by having those kids miss two days of school in January due to the move. Lets have two half days at the end of the year. These kids schedules have been a disaster this year. So much learning time has been lost – again. Although the new school is beautiful and really exactly what is needed for modern day learning and teaching.
5. High school start time – studies have shown over the last 30 years that high school start times have been too early. And Newton is acting slowly. In recent years we had THREE suicides at the high school school and countless kids stressed out. Lets keep delaying this action! High school kids NEED sleep. The kids in my neighborhood are at the bus stop at 6:55 AM!
6. Lets switch food vendors again! The promise of salad bars at elementary schools was a dream. A dream for a week three years ago. These salad bars have never re-appeared. Whitsons was all about fresh foods. . . . . . the kids really liked the salad bars, as did the parents. We promote healthy eating. Move over salad bar – hear comes the same crispy (fried) chicken patty.
I was happy to hear the school committee focus on when the school day ends as well the start time in each of the scenarios. For whatever reason, the impact on extra curricular activities, students who have (and need) after school jobs, and students with family responsibilities hasn’t been addressed here in any depth. I just don’t see the pieces coming together on their own if the end of the school day is too late and we’d better understand the consequences before making this decision.
As for having the elementary school day begin 20 minutes later (8:40)- been there, done that (before 1995 ish) and it was a disaster for families who didn’t have day care in the morning. Now that AM day care is available, a significant number of elementary students may have three separate structures and three sets of adults overseeing their day – the AM program, the classroom, and the after school program – and this is clearly not ideal. I don’t remember if the survey included questions on this issue, but it’s a concern that should be addressed.
Greg’s words:
“I worry about the cost to taxpayers in the form of renegotiated teacher and other contracts.”
I’ll let the words stand for themselves.
Heartless or ignorant. Literally nothing else to say.
Here’s why declaring a new start time and then figuring it out later would be irresponsible. As soon as you announce the new time, everyone you need to renegotiate with would have the upper hand: Teachers, the bus company, bus drivers, the food service folks, after school coaches, aides, etc. would more or less be able to write their own check, rather than working out as much of that as is reasonable in advance when you still have something of bargaining position.
Also, I’m not an expert on the science here but is there any true health benefit to a ten or twenty minute delay? Is 30 minutes the magic number? Sixty?
@Jane:
I’m pretty sure I’m not going too far out on a limb, to suggest that anyone that has considered a later start to the day, recognizes that will likely impact when the end of the day is.
There are inconveniences for many people with the current hours of the school day, and there will be for others when the hours change.
The changes are being made for the safety and will being of the children, not the convenience of the parents, or employees.
Those with responsibilities outside school will need to alter their schedule by 20-50 minutes. School comes first, the other things work around the school schedule.
Everyone will adapt, the world will continue to rotate on its axis; and are kids will wake up a bit later in the morning, feeling just a bit more refreshed, and well rested.
Greg,
Ideally if you were solely focused on sleep, then 9 AM, however because there are other factors (busing, sports, after school jobs), it isn’t that simple. Any delay is better than the current time. However, it shouldn’t start til 8:30 AM. Right now Newton South starts at 7:40, which means my neighborhood kids are on the bus for nearly 45 minutes! If School started 30 minutes later, the bus ride would still be the same amount of time, however the kids would get to the bus stop at 7:25 AM instead of 6:55 AM, which seems better.
http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/08/why-school-should-start-later/401489/
I also think if my Newton Highland neighborhood catches the high school bus at 6:55 AM, what time do METCO High School students get the bus?
Here are some interesting stats from last night’s meeting:
Newton is 18.2 square miles – 8th largest in the state
43% of high school students live more than two miles from school and many students travel 30 minutes or more to school
23% of high school students have bus passes
Hindsight is wonderful, isn’t it? As a high school parent, I wish the changes would happen sooner, but I also wish they had happened back when I was a student (and high school start times were 10-20 minutes later than they are now) If I ever failed to avoid ‘A’ block in my schedule, I honestly don’t know how I would have survived high school. Those who attended Newton Schools in the 80’s will recall there were suicides then, too.
This is not a new problem, folks, so why blame the current school committee, which is actually doing something? Instead of whining, has anyone actually read the report and have comments to share? I’ve only skimmed it, but this comment from option B may be the understatement of the year and exactly the reason why it would be horrendous leadership to declare a start time and figure it all out later:
Both C and D sound intriguing. Will need to study more to understand why they are “less favorable” to students (aside from the METCO bus problem in “C”)
And because transportation is a key piece, I’d love to see a plan to make busing more effective, whether it means investing in more buses to shorten the ride times or encouraging more families to use the buses to decrease traffic, or even having a policy that says it should be a goal to increase bus ridership / reduce driving!
Moving bus routes by 30 minutes closer to rush hour will very likely have an impact on the ride time.
Neil-Obviously people are aware that the school day will end later, but I haven’t heard a robust conversation about how this will affect the end of the day or how some of the scenarios will affect elementary school students.
Teachers choose to be advisors to a clubs and activities that meets after school – it isn’t a requirement of the job. Every teacher I know who advises a club is highly committed to the students and the mission of the activity. However, very few teachers live in Newton and many live 45 minutes away. A 3:45 – 4:00 end of the school day most likely will limit the pool of teachers who can be advisors. I’m not saying start time shouldn’t be changed, but it should be done with eyes wide open about the realistic consequences to the HS culture that takes place after the school day ends. I’m concerned that the present after school activity model may not work effectively for students and we’d be better off figuring out how to make the system work sooner rather than later.
As for the elementary school kids, I understated my concern by saying it wasn’t an ideal situation. Three structures and three sets of adults is simply not good for young children, not to mention many families don’t have the financial resources to provide for that much day care. In my family, my husband and I both had to change jobs to accommodate the NPS 8:45 start time. We were fortunate to be able to find alternative employment, but not everyone has that luxury.
@Greg. My recollection is that the scientific evidence from schools that change that for every minute school starts later, students sleep an extra 50 to 55 seconds.
@Jane. The school committee can change start times. I can’t. The school committee does not need to worry about my daughter’s scout meeting or my son’s soccer game. My wife and I are adults. We can figure it out.
Using findings from published studies, I estimate that our high school students are involved in about 3 extra traffic accidents per month while we deliberate. On top of this, our students have worse mental health, worse physical health, and worse learning. What sort of cost-benefit analysis leads someone to say that the value of waiting trumps our children’s health and learning?
@Adam. I give the School Committee credit for looking into this. I can’t give them credit, yet, for doing anything. I hope this changes. They could say something like, “The medical evidence is overwhelming. We will make a change, but we need to workout the details about when and how.” I have not watched the meeting yet. If those words came out during the meeting, I will send them a thank-you letter.
Greg, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that middle and high schools start no earlier than 8:30am.
I did not attend the meeting but I read through the report and I am disappointed for a few reasons:
1. I was hoping for a detailed roadmap showing how the SC could implement a later start time. Instead the working group presented 10 possible scenarios and the SC chair stated that “nothing is off the table and nothing is preferred at this point.” The report states that it “is intended to serve as a tool for making future decisions and a guide for mapping out future actions by the school district and the school committee.” In other words, the report is not the promised roadmap, but instead it is a guide to making a roadmap. That doesn’t advance the ball very far.
2. The report relies heavily on surveys and direct feedback from stakeholders, especially regarding the potential negative impacts of compressing afternoon activities. To quote economist and Freakonomics co-author Stephen Gubner: “self-declared data, survey data, is kind of the lowest form of data. Any time you’re making an important decision based on what people tell you they think will happen or even if they tell you the way they’ll behave, you’re bound to make a lot of mistakes.” We have hard data available from other school districts throughout the country that have moved to a later start time (and presumably experienced a compressed afternoon). That data shows better mental health, less substance abuse, fewer car accidents and better academic performance. Let’s place more emphasis on that.
3. The report expresses a desire to equalize impacts on various groups. Maybe I am misreading it, but the working group seems to want a solution that balances the health benefits to students with the negative impacts on other stakeholders. While I am not arguing we should ignore other stakeholders, I wish the SC would give more weight to the health and wellness of students. Aren’t the students the focus of their mission?
I wanted to interrupt this conversation among our self-appointed panel of experts to award a gold star to Kathy and Adam (and perhaps Jane, I can’t tell from her comments) for actually reading the report.
Jeffrey-I’m not opposed to changing the start time, so I’m going to pare down the explanation of my concerns to the bare bones. These are the issues that I think need to be addressed in order for the transition to a new schedule to be successful.
I am concerned we may do serious harm to a valuable part of the HS program: after school activities. The success of most of these activities is dependent upon staff who may not be available to take on these responsibilities with a the scenarios presented on Monday evening.
I am also concerned that a significant number of very young children may experience three separate in-school structures with a different set of adults on a regular basis. In my opinion, that’s not in the best interest of young children.
@Jane
Isn’t part of our problem that we are trying to squeeze in a student schedule into 4.5 days per week (no Tuesday afternoon classes) instead of 5 days? I welcome learning otherwise, but from a distance this looks like a common-sense solution.
A related question– do you support the current approach to Tuesdays?
Paul, not sure exactly how that relates to the high school schedule, but it probably does as everything is related. When would you recommend scheduling professional development, or do you feel that is not important?
@Adam
Professional development is very important. I’d ask the School Committee to see what’s done in other school districts– we are the outliers here, in Massachusetts and nationally. Few have a half day off from school instruction.
For those interested in seeing the year-end report as presented to the School Committee on Monday night June 20th, please start at minute 99 in this NewTV video. The presentation and Q&A total about 1-1/4 hours:
http://www.newtv.org/video/sc/062016/
For me this video works on Chrome but not on Firefox….
Here is a copy of the report, which can also be found on the School Committee website.
http://www.newton.k12.ma.us/cms/lib8/MA01907692/Centricity/Domain/68/HSST%20Year%20End%20Report_June%2020%202016%202.pdf
Regards, Steve Siegel
Greg-Of course I read the report and attended the segment of the SC meeting related to it on Monday evening. Where do I pick up my gold star?
Paul – I fully support the Tuesday release time. That designated time allows classroom teachers, special education staff, principal, specialists, etc. to collaborate on curriculum and instruction, as well as develop plans for students who have special needs. Professional development and PLC’s take place on Tuesdays so teachers and staff move forward with new curriculum and initiatives all on the same page.
Two other PD models exist to my knowledge: one is that teachers take workshops during the school day and leave the class with a substitute – that’s hardly ideal. The other model is for teachers to take workshops, course, etc. on their own time. The very clear downside of this model is that if I’m doing a workshop on my own time, I’m not collaborating with colleagues and the PD may not be well aligned with Newton curriculum and instruction.
In Andover in 1950’s, we had an early release day every Wednesday.
I don’t really get the connection to HS start time.
Since teachers are professionals, I have often wondered why they don’t gather their professional development the same way doctors, real estate agents, lawyers, etc., do: with Continuing Education Courses, which can be taken online or at their leisure for license renewal! Is our curriculum in Newton so different from other high-ranking school systems that a Continuing Ed. Class could not be designed to meet the Newton teachers’ needs? I can’t believe that education is more specific to Newton than medicine or law! If it is, I would wonder why and why it is not being adopted across the U.S.
Jane, I am not saying that that there are legitimate issues. I am saying let’s take sacrificing the health and well-being of our children off the table, or just announce that we will do so. Once we do that, we can focus on issues that, despite being less important than the well-being of kids, are still important.
Kathy’s comments were so good, I am going to go back and read them again.
Sallee, I recommend you read Jane’s post above.
Greg, a friends first grade teacher sent an email explaining why she did not give out stickers or gold stars. She worried it would make the other students feel bad. I don’t have that worry and would like my gold star.
It seems to me:
Having only 23% of students taking the bus and only 19 buses with 2-3 routes to and from the high schools taking 30 min or more indicates we need more buses and lower charges to parents. It certainly does not fit with the city’s new transportation plan. In 8 1/2 sq miles a shorter time seems doable.
More lighted fields are needed.
Seeking “opinions on issues of sleep” when the facts are clear, as is noted in the report, is a waste of time.
It is unacceptable that only 22% of high school students have an opportunity for more than 8 hours of sleep.
The Academy of Pediatrics noted that having more opportunity for sleep alone does not work. Other changes such reduced homework, need to be included. I have been fighting for reduced homework since my kids were in high school so obviously I think that is important.
Parents are pretty much fine with the changes. Students would like more sleep but are more worried about after school time which is natural but if things work right I think their fears will not be realized. Teachers need Tuesday’s to work together. Teachers are OK with later start times but that will have to be settled in collective bargaining.
There is too much emphasis on financial and operation resources. It is included in each evaluation. Some part will probably cost more money. The bus cost is going up anyway. This SC is trying to fire 85 custodian employees and pay a cleaning service instead so I am not sure they will have the best interest of the students as a top priority.
The scenario in which start times are reversed with high school starting at 8:30 and elementary schools at 7:55, adding schedule changes, consistent end times before 4 and adding 5 -10 days, doing away with February vacation and having a spring vacation that starts with Patriot’s Day might be the best one.
I worry about the other students who have similar lives to the two who wrote letters during ESL classes.
@Steve Siegel– I feel like you lied to me about this issue when you were a candidate. And in my opinion, you and the other members of this school committee have exposed Newton teens to an unhealthy and entirely unnecessary degree of stress that’s clearly reflected in the school system’s own stress surveys.
I wish I had access to the V14 archives, because two years ago this August we were debating early morning start times here on the blog. You were telling me about a psych consultant hired by NPS to address stress and depression after three Newton teens had committed suicide. You made it a point to tell me that although the consultant had made some good suggestions, [paraphrasing] “the one thing they hadn’t suggested, was changing high school start times.”
As you know Steve, I pull no punches when it comes to early morning start times. I think you and the other School Committee members have dropped the ball on one of the most critical health issues affecting our teens. I would encourage all of you to publicly acknowledge the seriousness of this issue, and commit to a definitive timeline to fix it.
Mike, you do have access to V14 archives. Here are two ways:
– To list posts for a specific month, type in the browser address village14.com/newton-ma/2016/06, changing the parts in bold to match the year and month you seek. You’ll get a list of all posts for that month. Or you can use the calendar-based widget in the right-hand sidebar of the site.
– To search the site for specific text, skip the Search box on this page (which doesn’t seem to be very useful) and instead go to Google and search for site:village14.com followed by the names and/or words you seek, putting phrases in quotes if you want to search for words in a particular sequence.
Through the specific-month search, I found that, among many other threads on the topic, there seems to be an annual discussion of high-school start times each August: 2014, 2015.
But it was through the Google site-specific text search that I found the discussion you’re referring to. See the 5th paragraph of Steve’s comment here and your reply. It wasn’t in August after all, just last July.
@Marti: I did read Jane’s words:
“The other model is for teachers to take workshops, course, etc. on their own time. The very clear downside of this model is that if I’m doing a workshop on my own time, I’m not collaborating with colleagues and the PD may not be well aligned with Newton curriculum and instruction.”
After reading her words, I asked the following question that hasn’t been answered:
“Is our curriculum in Newton so different from other high-ranking school systems that a Continuing Ed. Class could not be designed to meet the Newton teachers’ needs? I can’t believe that education is more specific to Newton than medicine or law! If it is, I would wonder why and why it is not being adopted across the U.S.”
@Jane
The connection to HS start times is that if we added 2.5 hours to Tuesday, we could delay start times by 30 minutes without needing to extend the afternoon. I’m sure this would require additional changes, but presumably there is a workable solution.
On the general question of Tuesday early release days, I’m not close to being an expert in this area, but I know two things:
— We are an outlier in 2016 in still having half days, both in Massachusetts and nationally.
— There is ample research showing a correlation between amount of instructional time and educational attainment.
We tend to think we know better than everyone else, and this seems to be one of these areas. You make reasonable points on the benefit of school-based, collaborative PD. Somehow most have migrated away from using a half day to enable PD.
We also don’t have FDK. The research is clear on this one as well. But we have folks in Newton that think we know better. Our “hybrid” approach is better than what almost all other districts in the country do, they say.
Tuesday early release days feels similar. We’re the outlier. More classroom time enables greater achievement. This feels like another case where we’ve outsmarted ourselves.
Welcome your response.
Sallee -The answer is a huge Yes! In a good way. I’ve taken lots of PD on my own, brought good things back to my class, but never had the opportunity to have an ongoing dialogue about those experiences with colleagues. With the present model, we talk as teams – All.The.Time. – about curriculum, instruction, and students. This is a very new model and one that’s not replicated elsewhere. So are we to seek out the mediocrity that comes with teachers working in isolation from one another, or do we want to be the innovators?
To infer that doctors and lawyers improve their practice from webinars that allow them to be recertified demeans the real work they do to improve their practice. You’ve heard of “grand rounds” in the medical profession? If you’ve seen it in action, you know it’s a much more powerful way for doctors to advance their learning than any webinar could ever possibly be. What we’re doing in education is a variation of that. I can collect credits to become recertified without batting an eyelash or using a brain cell. Becoming a better teacher? That’s another matter. That requires ongoing PD and dialogue with colleagues and supervisors, as well as self reflection.
Paul-I’m really glad your family can drop your kids off at 9:00 without harm. I’d only ask that you think about what happens to young children whose families simply can’t do a drop off at that time without dire consequences to the children’s and family’s well being.
Jeffrey – I’m asking that we make this decision while keeping in mind the health and well being of young children as well as that of HS students. Their health and well being is as much a part of this decision as is the HS students’.
While I value the opportunity that NPS teachers have to collaborate together and learn together, I also value the students that attend NPS. The School Committee can not please everyone with the proposed start times, I do wonder why Newton South releases at 1:55 PM on Fridays (and Tuesdays). Tuesday is the professional development. What about having the kids attend school til 3 PM on Fridays. Back in the day, I went to school to 2:30 PM five days a week. Why are we cramming so many hours for Monday, Wednesday and Thursday?
Off topic, why does Newton North release at 2:35 on on Tuesdays and Newton South releases at 1:55 PM?
Here are the hours at Newton South
Start 7:40 daily
Release: Monday 3:20; Tuesday 1:55 PM; Wed 3:20; Thurs 3:20 and Fri 1:55
Here are the hours at Newton North
Start 7:50 daily
Release: Mon 2:20; Tues 2:35; Wed 2:55; Thurs 2:35 and Friday 2:20
Why the wide changes in release times at the high school level????? North starts 10 minutes later, and has a more consistent end time. South starts earlier and has wide swings? Looking forward to reading the responses!
Jane,
I agree with you about the elementary school kids. Starting at 9 AM is way too late, because most kids of that age are awake, and most parents need to be at work by 9 AM. Boston Public has start times at 7:30/8:30/9:30 AM, and one year Mayor Menino’s administrative assistant’s child had a 9:30 AM start time, and she could not get to work at her start time at 9 AM, and there was a no exception rule at the time.
In this community, I find many things difficult for a student that comes from a home where both parents work out of the home. Any school that starts at 9 AM is not realistic (even for high schoolers), because parents have to be at their jobs.
I would much prefer to pay for my child to be in a longer after school program, than to have a before school program and an after school program. Some kids are not great at transitions.
Paul, you should run for School Committee. What ward are you in?
This is all so ridiculous!! Kids are just going to be getting home later, doing homework later and getting to bed later. It will incoonvienence hundreds of people and NO ONE will be getting more sleep
Can’t those EXTRA EARLY RELEASE THURSDAYS be for prof deb??? Why do we need 5 early release days most months?? #fulldaytuesdays
All release days are used for PD, PLCs, team meetings, or parent conferences and one is for a faculty meeting.
Jane Frantz
Belmont does PD differently. Elementary schools only get one hour earlier every one day a week, rather than the 2 hours and 30 minutes one day a week in Newton. Clearly there are opportunities to change things in Newton and perhaps make things better for all students in Newton.
New Cit – Newton does PD, PLCs, parent conferences, and team meetings on release days. I don’t know how Belmont deals with parent conferences or if they are even on board with the PLC model.
In addition to school based learning communities, we have citywide learning communities. PLCs are school based, but PD usually takes place offsite so that grade level/content area teachers throughout the city receive the same PD. It takes about half that hour to travel to the location where the PD is taking place.
Teachers get out of PD what the system puts into it.
Jane Frantz
As a teacher in Newton myself, I know the way early release days work in Newton. There are better ways to handle PD times, how time is used in general to give opportunities to make things better for the students. Having interactions with other teachers outside of Newton, Newton is falling behind in how it handles Professional Development. Newton should look to places like Belmont for how to change.
My platform for the School Committee campaign I’ll never run:
Later HS start time
Eliminate Tuesday early release
Eliminate monthly Thursday early release
Full day Kindergarten (and do not charge extra for it)
and last but not least…
HS substitute teachers! (How on earth do we get away with not offering subs when HS teachers are out???)
We’ll have to agree to disagree on that one. PD in Newton has been updated considerably in recent years and has never been in a better place.
I absolutely agree that the “later high school start time” issue should really be “normalize the school day schedule”.
Excellent school districts throughout the country manage to have the school day start and end consistently and predictably for every student every day. The burden that early release and limited kindergarden places on working parents is stressful and difficult to manage. I also feel that students, especially younger ones, benefit from consistency, and schedule is a big part if that.
To Emily’s campaign list I would only add, “free bus transportation” to encourage fewer cars near our schools, and “school bus service to after-school programs” (possibly for a fee) to increase the opportunities for off-campus after-school programs. With overcrowding in schools, the in-school after-school programs (made necessary in part by early release) don’t have capacity and force parents to look elsewhere and cobble together transportation.
These are separate but interconnected issues that degrade the educational experience for working families in Newton.
I overwhelmingly agree that NPS should provide for substitute teachers in all the schools. I am quite familiar with the system in Weston and it works well. They restrict the list to certified teachers. They teach. They don’t babysit. Principals can make their own list from the school wide list. A lot of them are teachers who have recently retired from the school they sub in and others are young teachers hoping for full time jobs in the area.
I wonder if Tuesday’s could be two a month. Why both Thursday’s once a month and weekly Tuesday’s. I like the team working together approach. So many things are now required to be taught in more than one subject. Teachers from each of those subjects, special Ed and inclusion coordinators have to be able to meet as a team.
Full day kindergarten is a necessity.