Schools To Stay Open Another Day

"Because classes were closed for last month’s presidential primaries...." Nope. I'll fix it.

Because a roomful of six-figure salaried people with 'advanced degrees' can't do the simplest of tasks correctly for the second time in three years... There you go.

How many teachers have part-time jobs that begin that Monday or plane tickets to start a family vacation and won't be in school that extra day? How many students will be out? The BOE's incompetence should not fall on the teachers, students, and their families.

Lastly, elections do not need to shut all schools for the day. That is absurd.

What a joke the Board of Ed is. Trying to convince students that attendance is important while scheduling a gazillion half-days on which no learning happens and tacking on a school day that no one will attend because it's a half-day on a Monday, of all things. I've already paid for camp that week but even if I hadn't I can't imagine telling my kids with a straight face that they needed to wake up for the bus to go to school for three hours on a Monday. The state really needs to crack down on New Haven and its lack of commitment to actual school days.

Sounds like someone (NHPS) forgot there was a presidential primary until a month before. …and when they decided to make the schedule change there was no explanation to parents as to why. Just a vague email stating “due to a BOE vote, there’s no school on April 2 and the last day of school is now a Monday.” I wish NHPS would own up to their own mistakes.

My kid will be in vacation June 17. Good luck with your attendance numbers.

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!

This is ridiculous. Our students are already behind, academically and taking days off makes it worse. As a student in NHPS, we never got the day of for voting. We went to school and avoided the area where voting was taking place. We have enough days off. As it is, our school day is not long enough. Unfortunately, the teachers' union sets the calendar and many of them want the early dismissal days.

Why is this news. Who cares. Last week of school grades are all ready in. Kids will help teachers pack their rooms up. Go to specials and lunch. And all of a sudden the day is over.

Any one going to take responsibility for this? By law it’s 180 school days for students- why can’t these big wigs do the math? The amount of Professional development days in New Haven is excessive. Provide professional development prior to school starting and on election days when there is no school. It is not easy for working families to find child care. Not all families can be remote as we see the BOE Meeting are. This staying behind camera business at our homes needs to stop (especially when our superintendent can be remote from the suburbs). Let’s make every meeting next year in person only. To fellow teachers who had make plans on June 17 before they received notification i hope the union and Human Resources protect them and allow them the day off. Let’s expect this to be one of the lowest attendance day in NHPS… keep those attendance rates a concern by providing such a disconnected calendar to your families

It almost feels like that none of the people in the comments add value to the conversation for the sake of what is best for children, but come to complain for the sake of complaining. We knew about the addended school year due to the voting date WELL in advance. This article is making it look like we just found out when this article was posted. We didn't. Enough time was given to allow for planning for everyone that this would affect (and it affected EVERYONE who works in a school building). Clearly, you all see the meeting took place in FEBRUARY. The voting took place in APRIL. This article should have been written when the meeting took place...IN FEBRUARY. Because it affects teacher, the union was in on the conversation so it's poor reporting to make it appear that teachers are just finding out about this as of the date of this article. Teachers knew once the final decision was made...in FEBRUARY.

The current public ed. model in America, including NHPS, needs a more cohesive system not interrupted by many breaks/holidays, culminating in a lengthy summer vacation. This results in educational stagnation, especially for struggling students. By modernizing the system to allow for longer/more school days and transitioning to a trimester/quarter system, we can significantly improve the quality of education. This change will provide students with more learning opportunities, helping them to catch up and grow. In 1983, a federal report, "A Nation at Risk," urged state/local policymakers to replace the traditional 6-hour and 180-day school year with 7-hour days and school years as long as 220 days, highlighting the potential benefits. https://edreform.com/wpcontent/uploads/2013/02/A_Nation_At_Risk_1983.pdf
These changes will align educators' work schedules more closely with other full-time professionals and offer more professional growth. Instead of using half days, staff will have built-in full-day professional days while not taking away from instruction. As someone who has spent 34 years teaching/supervising in public ed, I believe teaching and the delivery system must evolve regarding compensation and perception. Some school systems nationwide have extended the traditional model from 180 to 200 days or more, with longer days and proportional salary adjustments. 200+ school days within a trimester or quarterly framework is doable. We have failed our kids for a long time, as neither NHPS nor most public systems have been up to the challenge for a long time. We must commit to a more rigorous and continuous learning environment to ensure our education system is on par with the ever-evolving world. This will require more state/federal money. Our willingness to protest/demand specific choices from our institutions/government seems almost rooted in our DNA. Protesting/demanding more from NHPS and the State/Feds appears to be a no-brainer. A change is needed urgently.