QUOLKE’S CORNER #137
RESTORING THE SCHOOL DAY
Elections are over and the Cleveland levy passed. Now comes the good work of implementing some of the changes that are going to happen as a result of this levy passage. I am sure that many are aware that the day after the levy was passed, the CMSD Board of Education voted unanimously to restore the full school day for students in grades K-8 at the beginning of the second semester. This means that students will have an additional 50 minutes of school, increased exposure to fine arts and intervention classes, and that planning time will be imbedded into the school day. What everyone wants to know is, how will this work and what will it mean for me.
This is the first time in my career that anything like this has ever happened. Certain aspects of what will occur are outlined in the CBA, but most are not because this is a first for CMSD. We are going to work with the District to try to make this transition to restore the full day as fair and simple as possible. This process is not quite as black and white as I thought. I was reminded by my team that when reducing electives – math and literacy intervention were also electives that were completely eliminated. There are simply not enough music, physical education, and art teachers on the recall list to restore the school day only with fine arts teachers. Additionally, there is no one on a media recall list. So, while I hoped this would be simple and that I would be able to outlay every detail for you today – that is not possible. But this is about restoring the school day and putting more teachers where they can educate kids and have impact on children’s lives – so this is good problem.
Here is what is known:
- The school day will be restored on January 14, 2013.
- There will be recalls in art, music, physical education, and math/literacy intervention positions.
- Who will be returned to one school and how (not in CBA) will need to be worked out.
- Principals will have to create a new master schedule to be enacted on January 14, 2013. (Be warned, most K-8 schedules will have to change…not your grade level, but the time that you have planning and/or core team, will likely change)
- New allocations for schools, how this process will be managed, etc. will need to be finalized by December 5.
I will get more information to you as the process is developed.
In Union,
David