A couple of days ago we received an end of the year letter from our son’s principal. In this letter there was a small paragraph informing us that next year our children would be dismissed from school 1 hour early every Monday throughout the school year. The reason given for this; “The teachers can spend time in professional learning about your children’s progress.”
After investigating and getting an earful from parents in town, I found out that the Board of Education approved this new policy. When you are talking about a sweeping policy change, I think it would be prudent for the Superintendant to notify Parents before he presented this to the Board of Ed. Parents would have had the opportunity to speak to the Board of Ed Members before they voted.
For years we were told that the correlation of teacher-student contact time increases so will the grades? With an erosion of that quality time we lose precious opportunities of teacher student interaction.
Teachers should be doing enrichment training outside the core school day window not during prime time teaching hours.
I wrote Superintendant Sweeny a letter explaining the impact and hardships his policy was placing on families. I explained that in these tough economic times that it is career suicide to ask your employer for 30 early dismissals. Superintendant Sweeny’s answer to this is, “We are hopeful moms and dads will work with family, neighbors and friends for that one hour for approximately 30 weeks that is why we notified our community as soon as it was approved.”
What this policy appears to be is a cheap and easy way for the Windsor Locks School System to save money on substitute teachers, and place the burden on the backs of the people that voted for a $400,000 budget increase. I urge the Board of Education members to reverse their decision, and I hope all parents in town will attend Thursdays Board of Ed meeting at 6:00pm at the High School.
