I just got a call from the BOE

[hrh_disney_queen]

It was a recorded call letting me know that the school year will be ending three days earlier due to budget cuts. Then it went on to say that since certain requirements for HS will still need to be met, they will be adding 5 minutes to each school day for the rest of the year. That is going to make a difference, I guess?

 

[Maleficient]

I've gotta ask - where is this district? That is absolutely ridiculous!!

 

[usnuzuloose]

Im really surprised they havent done furlough days for the schools. Who knows it may be on their minds. Four days school one day off. Im glad I dont have children in school, but my heart goes out to all of you parents dealing with the school systems. UGH!! Jo

 

[freckles and boo]

Our district isn't cutting days but at the beginning of the school year they added ten minutes to each school day. Another change is that they now stop instruction at three o'clock. In the past the kids bolted out the door at three. Now they get out as late as 3:10. It doesn't bother me at all. I would rather they use the time they have.

 

[castleview]

That's strange. I know in our district they build in three snow days to the calendar. It came in handy two years ago when the heat was so excruciating that they actually gave a "heat" day. I'm surprised their getting away with the adding on...doubt it will be strictly enforced.

 

[MM27]

Does your state have a set number of days that schools must be open? In NJ we have to go 180 days. I wonder how they get around that.

 

[disney1990]

We have a required 180 days in the State of Maryland, but counties have now been allowed to miss up to 5 of those days because of all of the snow that we have had. I know my granddaughters have missed 9 days so far this year.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

It was a recorded call letting me know that the school year will be ending three days earlier due to budget cuts. Then it went on to say that since certain requirements for HS will still need to be met, they will be adding 5 minutes to each school day for the rest of the year. That is going to make a difference, I guess?

It does add up. We added 5 minutes last year and we save almost a week. Heck I'd be happy if they added an hour and we got out in May.

Does your state have a set number of days that schools must be open? In NJ we have to go 180 days. I wonder how they get around that.

It actually comes down to hours. As long as you get those set hours you can tweak the calendar. Schools across the country range from 165 - 185 days.

 

[monsterkitty]

We are looking at furlough days and a pay cut next year in our district. At this point they are taking away our four professional development days at the beginning of the year and using those as our furlough days. We do not do professional development days during the year so this will not affect student contact time.

We also voted as a union to take a pay cut.

 

[mandylo]

They did this in our school district also. They cut the school year by a week. Teachers have already had a few furlough days and they expanded the school day by 30 minutes.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

Hi, I'm back. I am in Savannah, GA. We have had one furlough day so far in Chatham county. I don't know whose fault it is that we have to cut education because of a shortage, but our governor has done some creative things in the past to save a buck. About 3 years ago, at 11:00 on a half day Friday, he and the BOE decided that the following Monday and Tuesday would be "energy saving" days, and closed the schools for those two days. We were gone for the weekend, and had left a little early on Friday, so Monday came and we got up and ready for school...no one there! Why they couldn't they have the days off on Wednesday and Thursday to make sure everyone knew-like those who were absent on Friday and didn't get the newspaper? I'm sure there were some working folks scrambling to get child care for Monday and Tuesday. I'm not too impressed with Sonny Perdue, but he is better than the governor in our last state-Mark Sanford. Not saying much.

The high school has a certain number of "seating hours", so the 5 minutes will add up, I guess. We are supposed to have 180 days. The 5 minute thing sounds like a lot of hocus-pocus technicality to me.

 

[disney1990]

Personally, I think it is all a numbers game anyway. Do you think it really matters if they extend the school day by one or two days to make up snow days? Do you think that the kids in June are really "learning" on those days that are thrown onto the end of the school year. I know around here, kids are often told to not even bother to come to school on the last few days because they will be watching movies or packing up the classroom.

I know over in Virginia (we are in Maryland) one of the counties has longer school days. I don't know exactly how much longer, 15-30 minutes, all year long. So they don't have to make up any snow days because they have something like 20 already built into the extra minutes in each school day. Again, I think it is a numbers game -- each class is what 4 or 5 minutes longer.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

Personally, I think it is all a numbers game anyway. Do you think it really matters if they extend the school day by one or two days to make up snow days? Do you think that the kids in June are really "learning" on those days that are thrown onto the end of the school year. I know around here, kids are often told to not even bother to come to school on the last few days because they will be watching movies or packing up the classroom.

I know over in Virginia (we are in Maryland) one of the counties has longer school days. I don't know exactly how much longer, 15-30 minutes, all year long. So they don't have to make up any snow days because they have something like 20 already built into the extra minutes in each school day. Again, I think it is a numbers game -- each class is what 4 or 5 minutes longer.

It is a numbers game...like a shell game!

Our school doesn't go so far as to say not to come in, but basically they use the kids to help clean out the room on the last couple of days. They have to have all the desks out in the hall by the second to the last day. The last day they bring blankets in and watch movies. (elementary) I also know that they turn in final attendance about 2 or 3 days before the last day, so that doesn't even count if you are absent. There is talk of switching to 4 day weeks next year, adding on some time those days. I don't think I would mind that. I just feel for people who will need to arrange child care, or worse yet, let their kids be at home alone. Older kids around here will be getting into a lot of trouble on the streets on that one day off, I'm afraid.


I guess it just bothers me that education has become such a low priority in the budget. Georgia ranks very low on the list regarding test scores...we need MORE education, not less.

 

[mandylo]

I'm not too impressed with Sonny Perdue

I agree 100%.