School District To Release Students Early Once A Month, After October

By Eliza Hallabeck

As parents across the school district learned this week by email or from a posting on the school’s website (www.newtown.k12.ct.us), students will be dismissed early the first Wednesday of every month starting in October for teachers and administrators to hold professional learning community meetings.

According to the release, students will be dismissed according to the district’s planned early dismissal schedule, which is available online.

While Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson is unavailable for comment this week, Assistant Superintendent of Schools Linda Gejda said she is excited for the implementation of extra time for professional development.

Dr Gejda said the early dismissals will allow teachers to engage in talks that will focus on grade level learning and kindergarten through twelfth grade learning procedures. All school administrators will be involved in the process, Dr Gejda said, and each will be responsible for overseeing discussions at their schools. One thing the district has never been able to do, until now, Dr Gejda said, is hold district-wide meetings to discuss learning across the school grade levels.

Board of Education Chair Lillian Bittman said this week that Dr Robinson had approached the school board with concern about finding time for professional development.

Until last month, Ms Bittman said, Dr Robinson was trying to find a “noncost way to find staff development days, because we had cut back on professional development in the budget.”

Holding an early dismissal each month, Ms Bittman said, will allow teachers the time to discuss teaching practices.

Each new school year, according to Ms Bittman, Dr Robinson has told the Board of Ed the school district was missing across- the-district staff development time, but there was never money to give to a solution. Ms Bittman said early dismissals will cost the district no extra money, and, with adding five minutes to the school day last year and for this coming school year, no extra time will be taken out of the classroom.

With the early dismissals on the first Wednesday of every month, Ms Bittman said the school district will still be three days ahead of time spent in the classroom than two years ago.

Teachers will also meet at other times for professional development, but the once-a-month meetings will give more options to the staff, Ms Bittman said.

The Kindergarten Schedule

Dr Gejda said the school district is hoping to rectify any inequality that may occur between the morning and afternoon kindergarten classes due to the early dismissals. According to the district’s website, only morning kindergarten will attend school on the first three early dismissal dates, October 6, November 3, and December 1. After those dates the district will determine which class attends school on the early dismissal days.

During the winter months, as Dr Gejda explained, it is more common for morning kindergarten classes to be canceled, and holding morning kindergarten on the first three early dismissal days should help to equal time spent in the classroom between the two kindergarten options.

“At that time, a decision will be made as to which session will attend for the next three months [January, February, March],” the district’s announcement reads. “In March, an announcement will be made identifying the kindergarten session that will attend in April, May, and June.”

Full schedules and calendars for the 2010-2011 school year are posted at the district website, and any further questions regarding early dismissals can be handled by the superintendent’s office at 203-426-7620, according to the release. Dr Gejda said questions will be directed to the appropriate person in the superintendent’s office, and parents can also contact their school’s administer with questions.

The decision to hold early dismissal days on the first Wednesday of each month came during the Board of Education’s meeting on June 15, when the school board unanimously voted for the option.

At the time Dr Robinson said holding professional development meetings is impossible at the high school without the early dismissal days.

“Other schools are able to schedule some professional learning community time,” Dr Robinson said, according to the Board of Ed meeting minutes for June 15, “but we have not been able to bring the grade levels together between schools.”

Dr Gejda said this week the meetings will help bring the district closer to goals in its strategic plan.

“If we are going to make this a cohesive school system, we have to have time for our teachers to talk to each other,” Dr Robinson said at the board meeting. “Freeing up teachers during the day would be expensive because we would have to use subs.”

Ms Bittman said this week that the unanimous support from her board showed the importance of the decision.

“I love it when our staff comes up with creative solutions that we don’t have to throw money at,” said Ms Bittman. “I think that’s wonderful.”