The following is an excerpt from the announcement in the Newton Patch on August 1, 2019.
Newton To Cut 50 Minutes From School Day For High Schools
The decision to revamp the high school schedule has also been a longtime coming … “We are committed to making it happen because it’s in the best welfare of students,” [Ruth] Goldman said. “But we want to take the time to make sure everyone is on board because we understand there are important issues associated with it, and it will be disruptive to some in the community.”
“One thing we have learned through this process is that there are trade-offs with any proposal,” [Toby] Romer said. “That’s why it’s important to have an extensive communication process with the community so we can avoid having an overly negative impact on any one group.”
Newton School officials expect a final recommendtion for later high school start times, redesigned schedule for Newton North, Newton South this fall. Goldman said the implementation could come in either the 2020-21 school year or 2021-22 school year based on when it is finalized and the anticipated impact on transportation and daycare schedules.
“For some families it’s going to be a big change,” Goldman said. “If we decide on a new plan in late fall or winter, it may only be fair to give everyone a full year’s warning.“
Under the proposals, start times would be moved from 7:40 a.m. at Newton South, and 7:50 a.m. at Newton North, to as late as 9 a.m. The school day would also be cut from the current average of 7 hours, 35 minutes, to 6 hours, 45 minutes, on most days, with shorter class blocks and the addition of a “flex-time” block in the middle of the school day for additional academic and peer support.
The new school day would eliminate the current “J” and “X” blocks at the end of the school day and replace them with the “flex-time” block.
Toby Romer, Newton Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Schools, said. “With the current J and X blocks, [at the end of the day] many students leave …” “It allows more time during the school day to promote social and emotional learning and allows for time in the middle of the day [for students] to have access to things they do not necessarily have access to during the current school day.”
Bolding and paragraph order mine.
So, What do you think?
Shorter? You mean later?
Frankly, I had given up hope of this ever happening. At least my youngest may get to benefit.
Shorter class blocks? Do you mean fewer class blocks and longer classes?
Forgive me if I’m missing something, but wasn’t this an article in Newton Patch, rather than an “announcement” in Newton Patch? If so, may I humbly suggest that it might be kinder to let the readers visit the website themselves and support original journalism, rather than reprinting most of its content here.
Michael, thanks for pointing out that it was an “article” in the Patch, making an announcement- not a PR announcement. I changed it.
The link to the article is at the top where “Newton Patch” is highlighted. Just click on it. I did not include the entire article. I am subscriber to the Newton Patch but this article is not behind a pay wall so anyone can read it. (I’m not sure they have even created a paywall.) I am a strong supporter of investigative and original reporting and subscribe to every “newspaper” I read.
I subscribe to the Patch hoping that the small charge will be enough to get them to cover more of Newton’s issues. They seem to be increasing their coverage but it could be an illusion because the Tab covers hardly anything at all.
Did you read? The Assistant Superintendent says that shortening the school day by 50 minutes a day “allows MORE TIME during the school day to promote social and emotional learning”. If you find this confusing, you’re not alone.
The Assistant Superintendent wants you to believe that the schools have been wasting an hour every day, but they easily could have avoided that waste. If that’s true, it’s an outrage.
But it’s not true. Even if they shorten the school day, the schools will still be inefficient. Why? Because 4,000 teenagers and a teachers’ union are good at many things, but productivity is not one of them.
So in summary: Newton schools want to see your kids 120 hours less per year.
It will be like 4 new hours of vacation every week for teachers and administrators. Because of this, you may feel confused when they come asking for a pay raise. But remember, they only shortened the school day to give your kids more time for learning!
Michael Singer, I strongly disagree with everything you said including your use of sarcasm but most of all with your summary and your presumption that the Assistant Superintendent is lying . I don’t find the quote confusing. Many high schools have “study halls” as the last period of the day. Many older students do just leave – like my grandson and my children before – but many either meet with their teachers, councilors, go early to their after school actives or sports teams.
Moving the “study hall” to the middle of the day keeps students in school and gives them learning time they weren’t using before. The “flex-time” schedule at Newton High Schools has been obsolete for many years.
Your statement that this change will give teacher’s a weekly 4 “new” hours of “vacation” is insulting (and not true) to teachers who work longer hours a week than many of those in high paying jobs. You are quite misinformed. Most high school teachers have no time to waste and have to find time to meet with struggling students, send out emails to parents of students in their classes, read emails from parents and research to answer their questions and concerns, plan lessons, grade papers, prepare and go to IEP’s and more. Most of these things have to be done own their own time. In addition teachers are required to be learning more, attending classes or seminars, every year at their expense and on their own time.
Teachers are only paid for the school year. They can chose to only receive their pay during the months school is in session or to receive their pay divided into 12 monthly payments so the 2 summer months don’t come as such a shock.
There are labor laws that protect those who work for private entities by requiring they be paid for every hour they work, including overtime for any time over 40 hours a week. Salaried employees in management and up can make outrageous sums plus bonuses and a number of weeks that go up regularly, all year, for paid vacation.
Newton’s teachers are not only productive but are quite literally a valuable asset to the city. Without them, land values in Newton would fall dramatically. They always deserve to be paid more.
Why are you blaming the teachers for this? Do you really believe that the teachers have been pushing for a shorter school day? In the words of Kelly Conway, those are “alternative facts” that you made up out of thin air.
This is happening because parents demanded it for years. Everyone knew from the get-go that something was going to have to give because it affected the entire system, has significant expenses attached to it, and some part of the system was going to be adversely affected. The question was what part. So now we know.
If you object to the shorter school day, contact the school committee at [email protected] and let them know. Blaming teachers for something they never asked for is totally inappropriate.
Thanks for the clarifications Marti – sorry to distract from the discussion.
It’s been nearly 15 years since I first raised the issue of early high school start times as a mayoral candidate. Had I been elected, I would have changed start times by Executive Order in 2005. I’ve detailed in previous Village 14 blog posts how an Executive Order could be used to accomplish this goal.
Early morning start times result in sleep deprivation and a reduced ability to learn. Sleep deprivation is a contributing factor to depression. Teenage students are particularly susceptible. The results range from eating disorders to suicide. But elected “leaders” have yet to fix this problem.
I completely support the latest proposal to start high school at 9am. Unfortunately, it is still all talk and no action from the School Committee. In Ruth Goldman’s own words, “… we want to take the time to make sure everyone is on board…”
Yikes! Wake me when they do something other than talk this issue to death.
Something had to give if the city wanted to both begin the school day later and also allow the students a rich experience after class. I taught for thirty-four years at Newton South while also coaching for all but two of those years. A perfectly reasonable academic schedule was, in the mid-90s, rendered almost unbearable with the Commonwealth’s passage of the notorious 990 rule.
While many communities comparable to Newton found ways of circumventing the legislation, Newton faithfully complied. Suddenly, the school day seemed endless, beginning at 7:40 and sometimes ending at 3:25. Extracurricular activities like sports and theatre suddenly had to begin and end later. In my view, the longer days did nothing to improve education and everything to raise the stress level of all concerned.
Make no mistake: extracurricular activities don’t compromise classroom education; they complement it. When students have the time to devote to some passion outside of class, they learn to budget their time better and to focus more sharply when studying.
The city’s decision to tailor the school schedule promotes both academic achievement and extracurricular participation. I support it.
This is a big story. I praise the Patch for covering it, especially in light of the Tab’s eclipse on this. That being said, to my eyes, someone from the school committee needs to clarify things.
Jeffrey, thanks. I should have included in my post that praise for the Patch stepping up. I’m sincerely hoping that it’s low subscription cost will persuade more to subscribe with the result that the Patch covers more issues in Newton. The newsletter is still free and it hasn’t installed a paywall.
It would help if more Newtonites signed up for their newsletter – maybe again – it’s changed since the Tab all but died. I only noticed this article because I started getting the newsletter again.
I couldn’t agree more that a School Committee member “needs to clarify things” but their brief appearances here haven’t yielded much information in the past. It’s difficult to pull satisfying answers from any of them even when talking directly to them. It’s a conundrum.
And again, the School Committee is pushing off the later start time. Newton started this conversation publicly in 2013, when my son was in first grade. If we push it off to 2021, he will be a freshman or sophomore in college, and another generation of kids will struggle with this ridiculous schedule.
On a NORMAL school day my son leaves the house at 6:55 AM, and returns home at 4:25 PM on the same bus. He then starts his extra curricular activities and then starts homework. This schedule is BRUTAL.
Back in the day, my school day started at 8 AM, and I left the house at 7:30 AM to walk to school and my school day ended at 2:15 PM (Last bell) or 3 PM, when clubs were over, and I got home at 3:30 PM.
We put our high schoolers through this insane schedule for four years, and we are going to continue to push each one.
Our community suffered through THREE suicides in one year.
Our kids our screaming for help, and we continue to study and push it out. It is terrible that we allow to put this pressure on our kids year after year.
Make the change for our kids and our families.
NewtonMom – As Bob Jampol noted, Newton had a perfectly reasonable HS schedule until the state adopted the 990 rule. That rules states that all HS students must have at least 990 hours of instructional time per year. Passing time and lunch don’t count as part of the 990 hours.
Once this rule was put in place (in 1997 I think), the change in the high school experience was dramatic and immediate. My oldest son was a freshman under the old schedule and I couldn’t believe the difference in the stressfulness of his day when the new schedule was implemented to comply with the 990 rule. The start time was a major piece of the problem, but parents need to be aware that the stress students experience during the school day, running from place to place, has also has a serious affect. Passing time was cut down so kids had to run from one class to another in order to be on time for the next class and never had a moment to spare.
The day used to start at 8:10, with a homeroom period 5 days a week. For my son, this HR period was a godsend. He began each day with an adult who had no other role but to take attendance and have a positive experience with students as they began their day. It also gave kids time to ease into the day so they were mentally prepared and alert for first period which began at around 8:25 – a much more reasonable start time.
That HR period disappeared with the 990 rule and was replaced with a three times a week HR in the middle of the day – just one more place kids have to run to during the school day. My son often mentioned that he missed starting the day with a low key experience with his homeroom teacher. He was miserable with the entire new schedule.
At some point, many communities just began to ignore the 990 rule because it was virtually impossible to abide by and maintain a sane school day for students.
I’m including this information to expand on Bob’s excellent post. The 990 rule was enacted so long ago that I’m not sure parents are aware of the origin of the current schedule. It wasn’t always like this and while the start time is most definitely a stressor, other aspects of the school day that the 990 rule require are as well.
Hi all. I am just now reading this and wanted to respond.
I second what Jane Frantz and Marti Bowen have said with regards to Mr. Singer’s comments. As a supporter of public school teachers, I found his comments offensive, fictional and negative.
Here is a link to the information that the School Committee has assembled: https://www.newton.k12.ma.us/Page/2553
Currently, the HSST working group has decided on a new schedule that is designed to increase social emotional wellness, create efficiencies and maintain academic success. This new schedule allows for the day to be shorter thus also allowing us new possibilities to consider in terms of moving the start time later.
We have also had a traffic analysis completed to take a look at our bus usage and ultimately come up with scenarios that would allow us to start high school later. It’s a fascinating document and I encourage everyone to read it. It can be found on the site linked above.
From the traffic analysis we had a few “scenarios” to compare. They offer different start times with different trade offs. However, one thing they all have in common is that they will greatly affect many lives, they ALL have very serious downsides, they will require changes to the teacher contract and (some of them more than others) will cost money that we don’t have.
NPS administration highly values the community voice. Starting in the fall the working group will begin going out to the community with this information, likely a survey, to find out what people are thinking now that we have these new scenarios that have been thoroughly vetted.
Later HSST remains a priority for me. 10% of NPS students are thinking about harming themselves or others. That being said, I am fully supportive of the working groups suggestions. I am glad we didn’t make this happen by executive order. The new schedule design was an unintended surprise that expands the SEL impact of this venture.
As one of two communications liaisons for the School Committee, I wanted to ask for more info from Marti, Jeff and anyone else who feels that the School Committee have not given enough info on this subject. We aren’t holding back any info that I know of. We have been sharing newsletters with links to all the info we get. What do you feel is missing?
@Mathew Miller– I’ve suggested early morning start times would be best addressed by an Executive Order from the Mayor, because the School Committee has failed to fix this problem in 15 years, despite the health consequences it poses for Newton’s teenage students. I find nothing encouraging in your comments. Please let me ask you a direct question. What year will high school start times change? Until someone on the School Committee can give me a no bullshit answer to that question, I’m going to continue to advocate for an Executive Order to change high school start times NOW.
Matt and the school committee has been forthright providing information when requested. Thank you.
Matt. The Patch article references a decrease in the school day that is at odds with what I have seen. Can you verify how much school time is being cut under the current proposal?
Mike. The School Committee has yet to vote on changing the high school start time. Like you, I will believe it when I see it. That being said, I am more optimistic than I have ever been.
Jeffrey– I’m not sure why you feel more optimistic about change this time. Miller’s comments offer the same pablum as all the other SC members who have failed to protect the physical and mental health of Newton’s teenage schoolchildren for 15 years. At this point, having seen scores of School Committee members come and go without changing high school start times, it’s now time for the Mayor to use her executive powers and make this change happen.
Mike, my optimism comes from the fact the School Committee spent a decade pretending to consider a late start. At no point did they go as far as even conducting a traffic study (despite, at times, blaming traffic as a reason for not going forward). A few months ago, they conducted a study. So, this time, something is different.
Again, can someone on the school committee confirm that the Patch article is accurate?
@Jeff, I don’t see any inaccurate info per se. At the same time, it’s definitely more anecdotal and leaves out many details.
I am usually a very optimistic person. However, I am disappointed that my son who is entering his senior year won’t see this change. I am now fearing my current 8th grader won’t have later start times.
I wonder how much stress we really cause our kids because the slow method has been painful on my family alone.
Many other communities have made the change, and the discussions there started AFTER Newton, and I have heard how unique Newton is for this, but at this point, I don’t care. Change the start times for the high schools NOW.
I’d like concerned parents to note that Mathew Miller avoided answering my question… What YEAR will high school start times change? That should tell you all you need to know.
The distinction between incompetent and incapable can be opaque. I believe the School Committee members to be decent people who are relatively competent. But 15 years of failure on the issue of high school start times has proven that they are incapable of making this change. Parents need to urge Mayor Fuller to make this change by Executive Order. Not another 5 years from now. NOW!
According to my notes, the proposal does not cut the school day by 50 minutes. Currently, the average school day is 7 hours and 4 minutes at North and 7 hours and 5 minutes at South. The average school day for the new proposal is not 6 hours and 45 minutes, rather it is 6 hours and 41 minutes. If I am wrong, Matthew (or anyone else on the school committee), please tell me.
The proposal will cut the average school day by 24 minutes. Unfortunately, traditional learning time (stuff like math, English, science) is getting cut by 34 minutes per day. Over the school year this is equivalent to losing 3 semester classes at Boston College.
Cutting traditional learning time is a big negative. That being said, if this is necessary for a later start time, I think it is worth it.
I just watched June 10 school committee meeting. The administration is leaving the door open to rolling out the short school day WITHOUT a late start. No one on the school committee said peep. WOW.
I am no longer optimistic. I am pessimistic. We are setting ourselves up for the worst of all worlds–high school that starts at 7:40 a.m. and ends, on average, at 1:25 p.m.!
I emailed someone on the School Committee who told me that start times and the new schedule are tied. This person would not vote for them separately. I had a similar email with another SC member in the spring.
This contradicts the slides and presentation at the June 10 meeting. In the discussion of the implementation of the new schedule, the second to last slide says “…exploration of implementation with current or later start times in Fall 2020.”
My interpretation is that SC (or at least two members) feel more strongly about rolling both at the same time than does the administration. Since it is the SC’s call, I am reverting to the optimistic side.