Falls School Board Votes to Reduce Class Time for Teacher Development
The Cuyahoga Falls Board of Education voted 4-1 on the issue at a special meeting Monday night.
After weighing the pros and cons, the Cuyahoga Falls Board of Education voted 4-1 to shorten Wednesday's by about an hour starting this year.
Over the 36-week school year, the hour per week will give teachers six days of professional development to help prepare them for the sweeping federally- and state-mandated curriculum changes that will be implemented in the next two years.
Board vice president Kellie Patterson cast the dissenting vote, saying the board and public needed more time to assess whether the scheduling change was the best approach to meet the educational challenges that lie ahead.
Under the plan, the district's elementary school students would be released at 2:25 p.m. on Wednesdays versus 3:20 p.m.; middle school students would be dismissed at 1:55 p.m. versus 2:50 p.m.; and high school students would be released at 1:45 p.m. versus 2:40 p.m.
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Rich W.
11:03 am on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Problem - Students need to achieve specified new goals.
Solution - Take 1 hour of student learning away each week.
Opinion - Ridiculous
Darla DeNiro
11:08 am on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
How much will my property tax go down now that the kids will not need the school that hour each week? I think this is a debacle - school board members will never get my vote again.
Angela Bozic
11:20 am on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Nothing like adding another hour of childcare to working family's weekly bills. And I agree with Rich... just ridiculous.
Michael M
11:34 am on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
I sure hope none of the younger students parents have to work on Wednesday's
WTG Falls B.O.E
Terry
12:22 pm on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
As usual, Kellie Patterson is the only member who uses ANY common sense. One day a week may not seem like much unless you're a working single parent or even a parent who has a REAL work schedule and now has to pay extra for childcare or inconvenience a family member. Does anyone on the school board have a real job?
Earl Elevant
11:40 pm on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
The blind squirrel found a nut this time.
I can't say this much, but she picked the right vote on this one.
Diana
2:38 pm on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
A few years ago we just EXTENDED the school day by 20 minutes because kids needed more time in school. Does this mean no more early release days? Will our school year be extended by 6 days? Will teachers still be able to schedule days out of the classroom for professional development? How much professional development can be done in one hour?
Not impressed
6:12 pm on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
I'm not fond of how Dave Rump assumes that mothers are happy to volunteer MORE of their time. I'm a very active PTA volunteer and I will NOT be providing "voluntary, free, no questions asked" babysitting. Are they just going to let anyone babysit, or are they going to do background checks? I don't care about the one day/early release issue, it doesn't affect me. I would like to see less substitutes in the classrooms. Last year, it was a regular occurrence for important papers to come home a day or two late because there was a sub and they "didn't know".
donna
9:51 pm on Tuesday, July 3, 2012
More elected officials screwing with working familys lives
KDG
10:01 pm on Wednesday, July 11, 2012
As a teacher in the district, we sure would have liked to have known or had some input prior to receiving an automated call on July 3rd. This is for moe Professional development because new leadership thinks we in CF are behind the times. We were sent an email saying Bucyrus did it this way. But, did they cram it down unsuspecting and unprepared parents, teachers, and students throats like this? I would hope not. Maybe the Board should keep in mind that communication is key. Give everyone time to prepare and understand the need for change. Please don't just tell us it is because another distrct did it. Remember how well that worked out with 90/10?