The board chose to move an existing student holiday scheduled at the end of that week (Friday jan 23rd) to inauguration day (Tuesday Jan 20). Tuesday becomes a planning day that teachers use to grade final exams. Teachers and staff are still required to work, but can use a personal day to take the day off if they wish. With the Board's blessing the Superintendent extended the due date for final exam grading by one day to offset secondary-level teacher's concerns about time to grade exams that will take place in the days after inauguration day.
Now the Board is hearing from many teachers that they'd like to take the day off entirely. From a typical email:
This motion recognizes the professionalism of teachers in completing grades for the reporting period in a timely fashion that meets the needs of the students and themselves. Secondary teachers (middle and high school) will not have completed semester exams for students by January 20, thus making that scheduled workday unproductive for them. Allowing teachers the option to not report to work on the 20th recognizes their need to complete their work in a more meaningful way.It appears that two Board members are prepared to offer a motion at next Tuesday's meeting, making attendance on that day optional for teaching staff. As of this morning the Superintendent has not made a recommendation to the Board on this question.
Tell everyone to stay home. Do the holiday shutdown of all lights, refrigerators, computers, Smart Boards, etc., and save a bundle of money for the 4 day weekend. Besides, the news for teachers is going to be more and more dismal as the budget crisis progresses. It's a small, kind gesture to teachers to give everyone the day off.
ReplyDeleteIt should be a furlough day, thus saving another 1.2 million or whatever number it may be...
ReplyDeleteI agree that making Jan. 20 an optional workday (teachers may choose to not report to work and would not be required to take leave) is the best move that can be made considering the situation since the workday is fast approaching. I still remain concerned for teachers who will have only given one exam before the workday. I believe extending the date that report cards are due by only one day does not begin to alleviate the stress that will be placed on teachers, especially in high school. Classroom teachers at ALL levels need a great deal of time beyond the one workday to complete all that is expected of them regarding report cards.
ReplyDeleteYou definitely created quite a pickle for yourselves. It seems that the only good solution is to move another teacher work day for secondary teachers to the end of the work. Otherwise, you're forcing those teachers to work over the weekend without extra compensation.
ReplyDeleteIt's good that the school board recognizes the importance of an inauguration, and the historical importance of this one. However, I think you ultimately put the personal desires of some teachers ahead of the needs of other teachers (for grading) and of students (to have structured learning about the inauguration in a classroom or auditorium).
I know that many of the school board members are personally very excited about this event. I believe that in this case, however, you let your personal feelings override your professional judgment of what's best for the students and the school system.