This week as I was getting my hair cut, another stylist walked into the salon with her 11 year old daughter. My stylist turned and asked why she wasn't in school...this is the unbelievable part...the kids and teachers had that day off because the district doesn't have enough money! Wait, it gets better...they have had 1 day off a week since the start of school and this will continue for the next 17 weeks! It is not the same day every week, it is a different day (making it very difficult for parents to find daycare for these kids on these days). When I got home I looked up the district website and the calendar shows these days as "Local Holidays"... Unbelievable!
There are 14 schools in that district, so very small (compared to the district I am associated with) and they don't have enough money to have their student go every day to school...Unbelievable!
How is this supposed to work? Will this one day off a week continue for the rest of the school year? Are the teacher's still responsible for teaching the same amount of work as a regular 180 day school year? Will the teachers still be held responsible for their students test scores? Is this what is going to happen in other districts when funding and budgets are cut to the point of not having enough money to have school everyday? Unbelievable!
Anyway, as much as I look forward to holidays, I think having a 4 day school week is not something I would be excited for, especially in today's economy, the governments need for numbers and fall guys and the public's scrutinizing eye. I feel bad for the teachers and sad for the students...Unbelievable!
That's appalling! How sad...
ReplyDeleteI am a special ed teacher and my school/program has state-mandated year-round school for our severely impaired students. Since I started teaching 9 years ago, our program has gone from 230 days to 217 to now, 204 days. We have 180 days of regular school year and our summer program has now been cut from 5 to 3 days per week, because of funding, too, of course. I can't imagine going even less! Our summer program (3 days) is now purely maintenance and we hope kids don't lose skills...forget about teaching anything new in that time! It's sad that this is happening in regular ed settings, too.
Kara
Spedventures
Hi Kara,
DeleteWhat a bummer about your program. This problem just seems to be getting worse and there doesn't seem to a light a the end of the tunnel. Thanks for commenting :)
Shawna
So sad but becoming a reality across the country....furlough days, etc. I wonder if anyone thinks how much schooling is lost over time because of this system.
ReplyDeleteHi Mrs. Parker,
DeleteI think you are right, I don't think the "suits" are looking at the loss involved with cutting days. All they look at is numbers, though I don't know how they think numbers will get better when kids aren't in school?!?! Thanks for commenting :)
Shawna