Reply to 1/2 day Wed for 2025-25 school year?

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[quote=Anonymous]The two biggest time sucks for me:

1) “Collaborative planning.” We are put in a room with our grade level team and told to collectively analyze test data (usually weeks old), “unpack the standards,” etc. There are dumb protocols we have to follow. It makes everything take 5x as long. If I point out I analyzed my class’s data myself the day they took the test, because I actually know the kids and understand their strengths (and don’t need someone with a third of my experience telling me how to interpret a math test), I am Not Following Best Practice. We are not allowed to use collaborative planning time to do any of the housekeeping tasks we used to (field trip planning, supply orders, preparing actual lesson materials, etc.) because those things “don’t directly impact student learning” so we have to use some of our “unencumbered” planning time to meet again and actually accomplish things.

2) Behavior issues. Calling parents for issues that the assistant principal used to handle, writing up incidents for “documentation” purposes, meeting with counselors or admin to come up with plans that usually involve something like  “spend 5 minutes each day engaging the child one-on-one in a positive activity the child enjoys,” then documenting that, then recording the frequency of the target behavior with the “intervention” in place for 6 weeks, etc. Repeat for 7 or 8 more children. Submitting an office referral for an egregious incident only to have it rejected from the system and told we need to not do referrals because admin gets in trouble if referral numbers are too high. So instead, “document and call the parent.”

With all of this, time to actually plan, grade, and prep materials is non-existent. Elementary gets significantly less planning time than middle and high school. I think continuing the monthly early releases is probably a way to get done all of the extra BS trainings and meetings from the district without taking even more planning time from elementary teachers.

Alternatively they could… stop all the BS meetings and support teachers with behaviors to give us some time back. [/quote]

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