Walton County: Slices 20 days of the year, adds 20 minutes to the day. Does it equal out in the end?
Walton County just adopted a 160-day calendar for next year, adding 20 minutes to each school day to make up the missing 20 days. The county blamed state cuts of $7 million for the drastic measure.
School will start August 16. There will be a three week winter break. School will end May 20.
A teacher from Walton told me, “Our teachers seem to be on board with the idea and there has been effort on the part of administrators for several months now to keep teachers in the loop so that there will be buy in on this. The BOE has been very committed to doing what they can to save taxpayer money and to save jobs without making the students suffer academically.”
The system will focus on bell to bell instruction and do away with many field trips, but I still think there will be a learning loss when you chop off 20 days. Do you think adding the 2o minutes a day mitigates the shorter school year?
According to the county Web site:
The modification will reduce the number of days students are in school from 180 to 160. The number of hours of instruction will still be more than required by the state because the school day will be extended by an additional 20 minutes of instruction.
In making these budget reductions three goals have been set. These goals are:
-The reductions would have as little impact on our quality of instruction as possible.
-We would protect the employment status of our employees to the greatest extent possible.
-We would spread reductions in expenditures across schools, programs, and employees as fairly and equitably as possible.
-The shorter school year is being considered because it will significantly reduce school operating costs. Most of the savings will be generated, because schools will operate for twenty fewer days. Savings for diesel fuel alone would be approximately $52,000.
-Other savings would relate to utility costs. August is the most expensive month for utilities and is also a month utility companies use when establishing rates for the entire year. In the past, extreme heat in August has also caused student safety concerns, and beginning school later in August would alleviate those concerns.
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65 comments Add your comment
Tonya T.
May 27th, 2010
10:53 pm
Love to teach:
How do you figure? Teachers WILL be docked pay for 20 days correct? Or is my math off?
@ middle GA
May 27th, 2010
10:58 pm
Unfortunately, a lot of parents have the experiences, and some teachers openly admit it here, as well. So, you have no one to blame except your colleagues.
Ole Guy
May 27th, 2010
11:24 pm
In light of the fact that fiscal restraint, for good reason or bad, is going to be a fact of life, within the educational camp, for the foreseeable future, some creativity will be inevitable. If we are to ensure that these kids receive the biggest bang for the educational buck, why not tack an extra few minutes onto the traditional school day? You can moan n’ groan all day about the reasons behind the current fiscal woes, and the “added burdens” such tactics place upon teachers and students alike…the entire concept is based on adapting to the realities du jour; if that means another 20 to 30 minutes a day of instruction…make it so. GOOD IDEA, WALTON COUNTY! It may or may not be a popular move, however, it’s the best response I’ve seen so far.
Middle Grades Math Teacher
May 28th, 2010
1:14 am
@ @middle GA…. I assume you mean me, as I don’t see anyone on here posting as middle GA. I don’t see any teachers posting here claiming that it’s all parties after CRCT. For the other three teachers on my team, that I have personal, step-in-their-classroom daily experience with — they were also working on content through today. My math team plans together, and I know what they are teaching. They’re working. Every classroom that I’ve passed in my travels in the hallway: working. Seriously, do you think a teacher is going to shut down with 6 weeks to go in the school year? We’d have chaos on our hands! No, thank you. Busy minds stay out of trouble. Lots of teachers have games and activities that are content and learning based that keep kids active but focused on learning.
Middle Grades Math Teacher
May 28th, 2010
1:19 am
Here’s the Q and A page from the Walton County website. Some good information: http://www3.walton.k12.ga.us/Pages/Calendar-QandA.aspx
math teacher
May 28th, 2010
5:42 am
@tonya t
According to Maureen’s post, teachers are contracted for 160 nine-hour-days and 10 eight-hour-days. That = 1520 contract hours. That is equivalent to a 190 day contract. So, no, teachers will not be docked 20 days. The students will lose 11 instructional days.
south Georgia teacher
May 28th, 2010
8:19 am
Our school system just announced 10 “adjusted work calendar” days….for those that don’t speak politics those are furlough days…for next year. Four of those days are student days. We have also lost around 15 to 20 teaching positions…that may not sound like a lot, but it is for a small south GA town.
Also, we have 3 weeks of teaching after the CRCT. Many students came in the Monday after the CRCT and was shocked when I started teaching a lesson. In their own minds school was out. We have put so much emphasis on this test that the kids think this is the end all and be all of the year. My students quickly found out that in my room it is not the case. We have read a novel a week and accelerated their learning by discussing 5th grade SS topics. The last few weeks being a waste depends on the teacher and is not a given.
testing
May 28th, 2010
9:45 am
Aside from the issue of whether or not anything actually happens after testing, it seems rather strange to have a high stake test done so far before the end of the school year. If the test is supposed to be testing whether or not students learned what they are supposed to in the whole year, should it be given at the end of the year? Are the cut scores set lower to account for the fact that students had opportunities to learn about 90% of the materials instead of 100%?
Dose of Reality
May 28th, 2010
10:35 am
Testing- The CRCT is so “dumbed down” that you’d have to be brain dead not to receive a passing score. It’s a total waste of time. What’s more of a waste is all of the time spent teaching the test. It’s no wonder graduating seniors aren’t prepared for college and life- neither are multiple choice!
N. Ga Teacher
May 28th, 2010
12:18 pm
I have been a Georgia teacher for many years, and I think what Walton did was terrific. Eliminating 20 student-days from the calendar saves a ton of money in terms of air conditioning, bus service, meals, and maintenance costs. As it was, Walton had far above the state-mandated number of minutes, so even if there are fewer in-class hours, they still exceed state requirements. And for those who feel that more in-class time means more learning, this is simply not true. After high school graduation tests in March, a large portion of students simply shut down. No matter what the teacher does, many kids will skip school or just sit there and refuse to work. An intensification of this occurs after EOCTs in May. The importance of test scores have gotten way out of whack in public schools. Principal jobs seem to hinge on them, and the pressure on teachers is terrible. The emphasis on these tests is so great that kids take it to heart and interpret the tests date as the “real” end of school. 20 or 30 years ago we did just great without high-stakes tests. Kids graduated, they went on to work or to universities and succeeded. Think about it: college semesters are 15 weeks, and we remember how tired we were then; however high school semesters are 19 weeks! It is ridiculous to expect 15 and 16 year-olds to maintain a study intensity that long. If anything, high school semesters should be shorter than college semesters. High school should start in September and end in early May. A Long summer school could be provided for those kids who wish to graduate in 3 years (why not?) or for those kids who need to take classes over due to failing grades. These summer schools, however, must pay for themselves. There could be one regional summer school site to limti utility and other costs, and parents would pay tuition. Also, with some tweaking, Title I money could be used to support summer school, because a large percentage of failing students are from poverty families.
Batgirl
May 28th, 2010
2:16 pm
My county went to 160 days this year. Our kids go an extra thirty minutes and the faculty works an extra hour. Whereas in the past our kids had two periods of electives, now they have only one and alternate classes. They might have PE on Monday and Wednesday and art on Tuesday and Thursday. Then I think they alternate on Fridays. Class periods last seventy minutes instead of sixty as in the past. By my calculation that adds up to almost twenty-seven hours which would more than cover the twenty days they are not at school.
CRCT scores were good, but then again, who really believes the CRCT is a true measure of what kids have learned?
And, yes, it is a grind working that extra hour. I am here from 7:00 to 4:15. However, we don’t start until the day after Labor, and being out in August in fantastic.
Batgirl
May 28th, 2010
2:17 pm
That should be twenty-seven hours per class.
Middle Grades Math Teacher
May 28th, 2010
4:13 pm
@ Dose — the content that we are teaching is definitely NOT “dumbed down.” I think that the cut score for “meets” is too low. But the curriculum and content are challenging. In my math class, the students must show mastery of the content in problem solving. They are not quizzed using calculations only. They are required to read the problem, figure out what to do, and then go through multiple steps to do it. My teammates and I put in a lot of work to make these problems as close to real-world situations as possible.
Walton County parent
May 29th, 2010
7:04 am
It’s shocking, I know. Imagine how the parents in Walton County feel about this decision. But truly, folks, the entire public education system is diseased. No sense in complaining about the rash when the whole body is terminally ill. The money is not here, so the WCBOE made a decision to manage the situation. I support the decision because I know that PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT is still the most important factor in a child’s education.
sunshine jewett
June 2nd, 2010
12:17 am
I cant understand why our kids dont get out of school after memorial day and go back after labor day we have been doing it up north for ever???? and guess what it works!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! south walton