I am blogging on "Save Windsor Locks" to keep the parents and the taxpayers informed on what is happening at the Board of Education Meetings and getting more parents, families and our community involved in our declining public education system in Windsor Locks. Some of you know that I (and a few others) have been involved in trying to get Superintendent Sweeney and our Board of Education to change their stance on the 1 hour early dismissal that will be taking place every Monday beginning this 2011-2012 school year due to teacher Professional Learning Communities (PLC). Due to this early dismissal our children will now be losing 33 hours of education time every school year and parents will need to rearrange their work schedules or find alternate childcare so someone can care for their child for that 1 hour. PLC has been instituted in many other communities and has been known to increase student achievement. However, I do not think this change should cut into our children's classroom time. Unfortunately, after attending Board of Education meetings and expressing my concerns, along with other parents, our comments have fallen on deaf ears and the early dismissal is moving forward. I have been assured by the superintendent that he is looking into childcare alternatives for parents and will be contacting him shortly about the status.
I encourage everyone to please get involved in improving our children's education in our town. Our CMT and CAPT test scores have fallen to embarrassing lows and our children need us to stand up for them so they can get the education they deserve. I will be attending as many Board of Education meetings as I can, going forward, so I know what is going on with our children's education and the decisions being made by our Board of Education. I know it is difficult for some people to be able to do this, so I will be reporting back via this blog after every meeting to keep everyone informed.
Thank you for your time and support!
Amy Mackey
I am totally with you Amy! In addition to your post, I would like to address the extreme number of early dismissals Windsor Locks schools seem to have!!! Why do the teachers need more time for the PLC? What were they doing during all those early release days and what were they doing?? That is precious time wasted, too. Let's not forget to mention all the times the teachers leave the classroom for a "meeting" and a sub comes in!!! Maybe our kids are failing because they are NEVER in school!
ReplyDeleteThese are all good points you make Amanda! Ones we tried to argue with the Board of Education, but with no success. Besides, the 1 hour early dismissal every Monday, the once a month on Wednesdays is also going to continue. So our children will continue to while we have to wait to see if all the promises from the BOE and superintendent will work. This is why I felt the need to get involved. The people making the decisions for our children's education are not being held accountable and us as parents need to start making some noise. Thank for your support!
ReplyDeleteWhat I meant to type was...So our children will continue to LOSE while we have to wait to see if all the promises from the BOE and superintendent will work.
ReplyDeleteThis blog is a wonderful idea, Amy; however, I feel that it is already biased and based on personal opinion/agenda. Will parents be given all the facts so that they may draw their own conclusions? Point being, I recall one of the reasons for the Monday early release, as explained by the Superintendent, being to STOP the "during the day teacher meeting/send in a sub" scenario. That is a valid concern that a parent has questioned here! I have the same concern and heard Mr. Sweeney explain that the interruption to instruction during the day by pulling teachers from the classroom needs to STOP and that it is not educationally sound. I agree with that. When you talk about "losing 33 hours," should you report that WL is still well above the state requirement for annual instructional time? I think in fairness to Mr. Sweeney, the BOE, and to parents looking to this Blog all available information and facts should be presented.
ReplyDeleteI fully intend to be posting all the facts from the meetings. Everyone needs to know exactly what is going on. The intent of my introduction was to let everyone know what my stance is on what is going on. They can then make there own decisions based on the facts posted from each meeting. I have no personal agenda other than making sure my child and the children in our town get the eductation they deserve.
ReplyDeleteI know you attend many of the meetings as well, so please, if there is something I forget to add or you feel would be useful to add to my posts, feel free to message me so I can include it.
We can only change things if we all work together. Thanks for your comments Karen!