Anonymous
03/19/2023 14:44
Subject: 4 Day School Weeks
Private schools will have a heyday if that happens. Just doesn’t work for working parents. All of the school holidays are hard enough.
Anonymous
03/19/2023 14:15
Subject: Re:4 Day School Weeks
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:They should just go back to early release Mondays.
They never should have taken that away to begin with. They did it because of selfish parents who view school as free daycare. The same type of parents who are causing all of the current problems. Some people should truly never have kids.
You mean parents who have to work to pay their bills and live in the area? Or the parents who work multiple jobs to afford living in the area and provide for their kids? Based on your comment, the only people who should have kids are people who can afford after school care or one parent who can stay at home.
I was in school in the 80’s, we went 5 days a week and had an early release day once a month. The idea that kids attend school 5 days a week for a full day is not exactly new or novel.
We didn't have full day kindergarten when I was a kid, was that common here? I ask because I am now a Kindergarten teacher and it is exhausting.
I started teaching for FCPS in the mid-90s and it was half day kindergarten at that point. I don’t remember when we switched over to full day.
It was early 2000"s
Anonymous
03/19/2023 14:04
Subject: Re:4 Day School Weeks
Anonymous wrote:From the article: "Typically the districts lengthen the school day on the four days when school is in session." I think the school day is long enough already, especially for young children. I don't think young children will learn much more in an extended day. (I am a former teacher, and have taught grades 3 - 12.)
+1 the days are too long already
Anonymous
03/19/2023 14:02
Subject: 4 Day School Weeks
Anonymous wrote:Schools needs to be open 5 days a week!
Allow me to translate I need daycare M-F for 7+ hours.
Anonymous
03/19/2023 14:02
Subject: Re:4 Day School Weeks
Anonymous wrote:I think the school day needs to just be restructured.
Elementary- no subject should be more than 45 mins in my opinion. Kids can’t focus for that long. Recess should be 45 mins to 1 hour. Currently kids start coming in at 9:05 and start leaving at 4:05. That is 7 hours at school.
Sample Schedule Elementary
1 hour for specials
30 min lunch
45 min recess
45 min for Math
30 mins Writing
30 mins Reading
15 mins Word Study
30 mins SS
30 mins Science
30 mins- intervention and Enrichment.
That would be 5.75 hours which is much better for kids.
Secondary- Get rid of block scheduling except for certain classes such as Science that has labs.
This would be so much better. The day could even be 6 hours because the 15 minutes could be counted in as arrival time. It takes 15 minutes to get kids in the doors as it is.
Anonymous
03/19/2023 14:01
Subject: Re:4 Day School Weeks
Anonymous wrote:I think the school day needs to just be restructured.
Elementary- no subject should be more than 45 mins in my opinion. Kids can’t focus for that long. Recess should be 45 mins to 1 hour. Currently kids start coming in at 9:05 and start leaving at 4:05. That is 7 hours at school.
Sample Schedule Elementary
1 hour for specials
30 min lunch
45 min recess
45 min for Math
30 mins Writing
30 mins Reading
15 mins Word Study
30 mins SS
30 mins Science
30 mins- intervention and Enrichment.
That would be 5.75 hours which is much better for kids.
Secondary- Get rid of block scheduling except for certain classes such as Science that has labs.
This would be so much better. The day could even be 6 hours because the 15 minutes could be counted in as arrival time. It takes 15 minutes to get kids in the doors as it is.
Anonymous
03/19/2023 12:21
Subject: Re:4 Day School Weeks
I think the school day needs to just be restructured.
Elementary- no subject should be more than 45 mins in my opinion. Kids can’t focus for that long. Recess should be 45 mins to 1 hour. Currently kids start coming in at 9:05 and start leaving at 4:05. That is 7 hours at school.
Sample Schedule Elementary
1 hour for specials
30 min lunch
45 min recess
45 min for Math
30 mins Writing
30 mins Reading
15 mins Word Study
30 mins SS
30 mins Science
30 mins- intervention and Enrichment.
That would be 5.75 hours which is much better for kids.
Secondary- Get rid of block scheduling except for certain classes such as Science that has labs.
Elementary- no subject should be more than 45 mins in my opinion. Kids can’t focus for that long. Recess should be 45 mins to 1 hour. Currently kids start coming in at 9:05 and start leaving at 4:05. That is 7 hours at school.
Sample Schedule Elementary
1 hour for specials
30 min lunch
45 min recess
45 min for Math
30 mins Writing
30 mins Reading
15 mins Word Study
30 mins SS
30 mins Science
30 mins- intervention and Enrichment.
That would be 5.75 hours which is much better for kids.
Secondary- Get rid of block scheduling except for certain classes such as Science that has labs.
Anonymous
03/19/2023 09:23
Subject: Re:4 Day School Weeks
FCPS just went through major calendar planning for a set 3 year calendar. It is now approved and without 4 day school week for the next three years. I doubt that if this 4 day school week was even slightly plausible that the super would go to such lengths to plan the current 3 year calendar.
Anonymous
03/19/2023 09:19
Subject: Re:4 Day School Weeks
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:They should just go back to early release Mondays.
They never should have taken that away to begin with. They did it because of selfish parents who view school as free daycare. The same type of parents who are causing all of the current problems. Some people should truly never have kids.
You mean parents who have to work to pay their bills and live in the area? Or the parents who work multiple jobs to afford living in the area and provide for their kids? Based on your comment, the only people who should have kids are people who can afford after school care or one parent who can stay at home.
I was in school in the 80’s, we went 5 days a week and had an early release day once a month. The idea that kids attend school 5 days a week for a full day is not exactly new or novel.
We didn't have full day kindergarten when I was a kid, was that common here? I ask because I am now a Kindergarten teacher and it is exhausting.
That’s another thing. School used to be a shorter day too. Now the kids are in school 7+ hours. Elementary teachers really don’t have any planning time during the school day because the kids are in the classroom all day except for specials and that is often when meetings etc are scheduled. The school day used to be 6 hours for students and kindergarten was once half day, now kids are in school for long hours.
Students are in school for 6 hours and 45 minutes. I don’t remember a 6 hour school day and I’ve been with FCPS for 30 years.
Yes, kindergarten used to be half a day.
As far as the early release Mondays, those were often filled with meetings and the specials during T-F were shorter than an hour. When they got rid of the early release, we gained planning time when they added the policy of 300 minutes per week, a minimum of 240 teacher directed and 60 collaborative. I remember Dr. Garza touting the increased planning time at the ES level during STAC meetings. That went well for a year or so and then she left. As we’ve moved further away from the removal of the early release, our planning times have been taking up by more collaborative meetings resulting in less amount of teacher directed, unencumbered planning time.
Anonymous
03/19/2023 08:29
Subject: Re:4 Day School Weeks
Anonymous wrote:Do people really believe you can take away 7 hours every week and there will be no change in student learning? If this is the case, we have so much more to worry about.
I teach middle school. There is SO much wasted time on block schedule at this age. Kids can’t focus for 90 minutes on math. I chunk my block into 6 “sections” of 10ish minutes each—either direct instruction or active practice. In between each section is 3-4 minutes of fluff. Brain breaks, community building activities, silly challenges. Anything so that they are still with me the last 30 minutes. So yeah, around 20-30% of my class is not content out of necessity, and I think you could cut that out without repercussions. On 2 hour delays/early releases I get through the same material I cover in a 90 minute block, just without all the fluff. They are squirrelly at the end, but it’s manageable.
Anonymous
03/19/2023 08:12
Subject: Re:4 Day School Weeks
Anonymous wrote:Do people really believe you can take away 7 hours every week and there will be no change in student learning? If this is the case, we have so much more to worry about.
The districts in the article have lengthened the school day
Anonymous
03/19/2023 08:12
Subject: Re:4 Day School Weeks
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:They should just go back to early release Mondays.
They never should have taken that away to begin with. They did it because of selfish parents who view school as free daycare. The same type of parents who are causing all of the current problems. Some people should truly never have kids.
You mean parents who have to work to pay their bills and live in the area? Or the parents who work multiple jobs to afford living in the area and provide for their kids? Based on your comment, the only people who should have kids are people who can afford after school care or one parent who can stay at home.
I was in school in the 80’s, we went 5 days a week and had an early release day once a month. The idea that kids attend school 5 days a week for a full day is not exactly new or novel.
We didn't have full day kindergarten when I was a kid, was that common here? I ask because I am now a Kindergarten teacher and it is exhausting.
That’s another thing. School used to be a shorter day too. Now the kids are in school 7+ hours. Elementary teachers really don’t have any planning time during the school day because the kids are in the classroom all day except for specials and that is often when meetings etc are scheduled. The school day used to be 6 hours for students and kindergarten was once half day, now kids are in school for long hours.
Yes, and I think there are diminishing returns, especially for young children. I have at least one kid fall asleep every week. We’ve also taken the play time out of school. That’s how young children learn and regulate. Kids should have play time/free choice built in through elementary school.
Anonymous
03/19/2023 07:43
Subject: Re:4 Day School Weeks
Do people really believe you can take away 7 hours every week and there will be no change in student learning? If this is the case, we have so much more to worry about.
Anonymous
03/19/2023 07:24
Subject: 4 Day School Weeks
Anonymous wrote:Instead of 4 day weeks I’d just like days to be an hour shorter. Seems like that would solve most problems. We’d still meet minimum hours of school, teachers get an extra hour of planning, support staff works 5 days a week, parents get 5 days of care.
This plus bringing back discipline and looking at how to reduce the loads on teachers seem like the best ways.
Anonymous
03/19/2023 07:23
Subject: Re:4 Day School Weeks
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:They should just go back to early release Mondays.
They never should have taken that away to begin with. They did it because of selfish parents who view school as free daycare. The same type of parents who are causing all of the current problems. Some people should truly never have kids.
You mean parents who have to work to pay their bills and live in the area? Or the parents who work multiple jobs to afford living in the area and provide for their kids? Based on your comment, the only people who should have kids are people who can afford after school care or one parent who can stay at home.
I was in school in the 80’s, we went 5 days a week and had an early release day once a month. The idea that kids attend school 5 days a week for a full day is not exactly new or novel.
Remember at the start of the pandemic when teachers said to trust them, they could drastically reduce the amount of instruction our kids receive but everything would be a-ok because they're teachers and they can get kids back on track no problem? Doesn't seem like you made good on that promise, does it...while the rest of us busted our a*** to still do our jobs and now pick up the slack in teaching our kids too... I will never forget that.
Jeez Pp get over it. I’m not a teacher nor do I think 4 day weeks are the answer but the pandemic remote school was 2.5 years ago. Move on.