Early release; now late arrival ?

Hi all,

I too hate early release days to the kids. However now they have come
up with another diddy; Late arrival.....they schedule school to start
1 hour late one day a week ...... why? The teachers need some time to
themselves.

Don't you just feel for those poor over worked teachers.....?

Vickie R
vickiesremedies dot com

"cwnews" wrote in message
m...
: Hi all,
:
: I too hate early release days to the kids. However now they have come
: up with another diddy; Late arrival.....they schedule school to start
: 1 hour late one day a week ...... why? The teachers need some time to
: themselves.
:
: Don't you just feel for those poor over worked teachers.....?

This shows exactly how much you know about what teachers do. 1 hour per
week is hardly "time spent to themselves." More like, time for the endless
meetings they saddle us with, planning, grading, poring over test data,
filling out all utterly stupid and useless paperwork which is required by
the district ("Describe what methods you use to integrate each child's
culture into your classroom curriculum"....Sheesh....) Most of which is
done AT HOME while *you* are watching TV or spending time with your family.

What do you think that time is for? Extra sleep? Bwaaaaa-ha-ha-ha!
--
ColoradoSkiBum

"ColoradoSkiBum" wrote in message
...

"cwnews" wrote in message
m...
: Hi all,
:
: I too hate early release days to the kids. However now they have come
: up with another diddy; Late arrival.....they schedule school to start
: 1 hour late one day a week ...... why? The teachers need some time to
: themselves.
:
: Don't you just feel for those poor over worked teachers.....?

This shows exactly how much you know about what teachers do. 1 hour per
week is hardly "time spent to themselves." More like, time for the
endless
meetings they saddle us with, planning, grading, poring over test data,
filling out all utterly stupid and useless paperwork which is required by
the district ("Describe what methods you use to integrate each child's
culture into your classroom curriculum"....Sheesh....) Most of which is
done AT HOME while *you* are watching TV or spending time with your
family.

What do you think that time is for? Extra sleep? Bwaaaaa-ha-ha-ha!

Usually, this sort of policy comes in when budget cuts have fired specialist
teachers, because we're the ones who provide planning time. State law
requires 2 1/2 hours of paid planning time a week (which is hardly enough
time to get any significant planning done, let alone IEP meetings and
conferences with parents). If the school doesn't have enough specialist
coverage to be able to meet whatever the mandate for planning is via that
release time, the only option without increasing contract hours (and having
to pay accordingly) is to decrease instructional hours, either via early
dismissal or late arrival.

So, I'd look at funding. My district has drastically cut support teacher
time in the past year. We have gone from 7 support teachers for 600
students, to 5, which means that support teachers are actually teaching more
than one class of students at a time to get everyone on the schedule and
provide release time. If they cut much more, it will not be possible to
provide the required planning time and still teach the class. Which either
means that a support teacher is reduced to being a paid babysitter and doing
anything which can contain and control 60 or more students for that time
(can you say, a LOT of videos?) or the district will have to go to one of
these annoying schedules.


--
ColoradoSkiBum

In ,
cwnews wrote:
*
*Don't you just feel for those poor over worked teachers.....?

Do I ever! I have to say, I just could NOT do that job myself. I am SO
glad that there are professional teachers out there willing to take it on.
I don't know what I would do without them. Well, duh, I'd do it myself,
but man that would suck. I don't have the patience for it!

In my area of PA we have some of the highest-paid teachers in the country,
is my understanding. I probably won't even be using the public schools for
my kids (well, we're still deciding, but leaning against) but I don't
begrudge one penny of the tax dollars of mine that go to the teachers.

--
hillary israeli vmd http://www.hillary.net
"uber vaccae in quattuor partes divisum est."
not-so-newly minted veterinarian-at-large

On Thu, 6 Nov 2003 12:40:02 +0000 (UTC), (Hillary
Israeli) wrote:

I probably won't even be using the public schools for
my kids (well, we're still deciding, but leaning against) but I don't
begrudge one penny of the tax dollars of mine that go to the teachers.

Thank you, Hillary. It's refreshing to hear from someone who has
respect for teachers and the job they are doing instead of from the
teacher bashers (on the education groups we get so many of those).


--
Dorothy

There is no sound, no cry in all the world
that can be heard unless someone listens ..

The Outer Limits

On 5 Nov 2003 19:20:46 -0800, cwnews wrote:
Hi all,

I too hate early release days to the kids. However now they have come
up with another diddy; Late arrival.....they schedule school to start
1 hour late one day a week ...... why? The teachers need some time to
themselves.

Don't you just feel for those poor over worked teachers.....?

You don't know many teachers, do you?

I know four teachers personally. Their working days start between 6:30 and 7:30am.
They stay at school until at least 5:00pm. They go home, have dinner, see the kids
for an hour or so, and then work from 8:00-10:00pm quite frequently - filling
out reports, grading homework, preparing lesson plans, etc. That's not counting
the days when they have mandatory chaparone duties for school functions,
after-school and weekend meetings with concerned parents, and on, and on, and
on.

How many hours a week do YOU work? And how many people complain what a
cushy life you have?

In article ,
cwnews wrote:
Hi all,

I too hate early release days to the kids. However now they have come
up with another diddy; Late arrival.....they schedule school to start
1 hour late one day a week ...... why? The teachers need some time to
themselves.

Our last school did this. They started 1 hour late on Thursdays, and
15 minutes early the other 4 days to make up for it (so Thursday start
was actually 1:15 later than the other days) so the kids still had the
same number of hours, on the books. They did it because they had a huge
staff and it was hard to schedule staff meetings that fit everyone's
schedule after school, since many teachers are also parents. They offered
free childcare Thursday mornings for anyone who needed it. (As a parent
with a flexible work schedule, I loved the extra sleep and more leisurely
pace of Thursday mornings!)

--Robyn

cwnews wrote:
Hi all,

I too hate early release days to the kids. However now they have come
up with another diddy; Late arrival.....they schedule school to start
1 hour late one day a week ...... why? The teachers need some time to
themselves.

Don't you just feel for those poor over worked teachers.....?

Vickie R
vickiesremedies dot com

Yes. But then, my mother was a teacher, so I could see up close and
personal how much work it was. Not only that, I could see the amount
of concern and worry she put in over some of the children in her classes.

I'm a computer programmer, with about 15 year's experience. I make
way more than most teachers in Georgia can ever hope to make. But I
don't go home at night wondering whether child X is being abused and I
should call CPS, or whether child Y's parents really understand that Y
seems to need glasses. I don't think about whether child Z, who is
bright, will be able to overcome the handicap of illiterate parents who
will never read to that child, or take him to a library, or buy him a
book, or dream of sending him to college.

I know there are plenty of dud teachers out there. But anybody who
thinks this an underworked, overpaid profession is smokin' something funny.

Clisby

In article , Clisby says...



cwnews wrote:
Hi all,

I too hate early release days to the kids. However now they have come
up with another diddy; Late arrival.....they schedule school to start
1 hour late one day a week ...... why? The teachers need some time to
themselves.

Don't you just feel for those poor over worked teachers.....?

Vickie R
vickiesremedies dot com

Yes. But then, my mother was a teacher, so I could see up close and
personal how much work it was. Not only that, I could see the amount

My mother was a teacher too, and I hear you, and I don't blame y'all for
reacting to that offhand insulting statement.

But the underlying message is - that schedule differences that are inconsistent
day to day (even if they happen weekly regularly) is very disruptive to many
households. Why would this extra time have to be arranged in this way?

I still get this feeling that, when these schedule issues are discussed within
the school district, what they imagine going on in families' homes is Mrs.
Cleavers having a more leisurely breakfast with the kiddies once a week.

Banty

"Banty" wrote:

I still get this feeling that, when these schedule issues are discussed
within
the school district, what they imagine going on in families' homes is Mrs.
Cleavers having a more leisurely breakfast with the kiddies once a week.

We don't view it that we. Most students come from homes where
either both parents work, or where one parent is present. We know this.


P. Tierney