District Policies Whittle Away At Quality Classroom Time

To the Editor:

I am concerned about the number of early dismissals scheduled in Newtown’s School District. Students at Reed had only two full days of school in the first two weeks of November. There are ten parent/teacher conference days scheduled for Reed this year, in addition to the nine newly-instituted teacher professional development days.

I am fortunate child care is not a personal issue, because I have a trusted neighbor to watch my children during the numerous early dismissals, but I wonder what other parents do. I feel there is disregard for the child care needs of parents who work. The district is completely out of touch with the families that it exists to serve.

In regard to the district’s in-service Wednesdays, Janet Robinson stressed at the “Board Coffee” that student instructional time was not lost, but compensated by the addition of five minutes to the beginning and end of every school day. Although it follows the letter of the law in terms of required time, it seriously impacts the actual quality of instruction. It may be mathematically equivalent to make up lost time in this way, but can ten scattered minutes compare to what would be accomplished with children in a block of two hours?

Janet Robinson mentioned that other districts use early dismissal days for teacher training and research shows that professional sharing among teachers is good for children. I agree that it is important to provide time for teachers to share and consult with one another, but not if it’s taken from class time. If provided at the expense of the children, it won’t benefit them.

Our concern must be this district, these children and their education. I would like to see the data used to support the district’s rationale. Much criticism of education in the United States relates to the length of our school day and year being much shorter than that of higher-achieving countries. Although they may provide professional sharing, it does not necessarily follow that they sacrifice quality teacher time with students.

Dr Robinson mentioned that Connecticut requires parent teacher conferences. I was in no way suggesting that conferences be eliminated, just scheduled in a more thoughtful way. The State of Connecticut Department of Education only requires two parent-teacher conferences per year. How a district does so is left to the judgment of the superintendent and the administration and is decided by them.

Adding nine half days for teacher training to the time needed for conferences, and the inevitable delays and early dismissals caused by bad weather, is excessive and not in the best interest of Newtown’s children.

Look at some of the decisions that the district is making in regard to our children. Do these decisions make sense? Are they thoughtful?

If there are others in Newtown who understand and agree with my concern, I encourage them to contact Superintendent Janet Robinson and the Board of Education and let them know.

Sincerely,

Maureen Cassetta

12 Johnny Appleseed Drive, Sandy Hook          November 29, 2010