Wednesday night the Business Services committee passed a recommendation to the board to approve the Guaranteed Performance Contract with McKinstry. This will provide energy upgrades that would pay for themselves in all district buildings except Maywood and Nichols. Either of these buildings could be readily added to the contract through a change order process pending the findings of the Ad Hoc grade configuration committee.
Although I thought Maywood should be included there was an expressed desire to keep the contract smaller on the part of several of the participants in the discussion. I felt it was more important to move ahead now with the smaller proposal than wait to develop concensus for a more aggresive approach. As we gain experience and comfort with this process we will probably upsize it to take full advantage of the savings it provides.
The committee also approved some changes to straighten out the busing situation in Cottage Grove which currently has longer travel and wait times than necessary. The administrations recommendations essentially put all the students at Glacial Drumlin in the same transportation scheme. We will no longer have the 5th graders picked up early, taken to CG elementary before going home. To accommodate this change 1/2 hour of supervision is added at the end of the day for 5th graders who are bused and the walk zones for 5th through 8th grades are made equivalent. The end of day supervision is offset by a reduction in supervision in the morning as some of these kids now arrive very early.
The biggest impact of this proposal will be a reduction in the wait times at CG elementary- the younger kids should be getting home as much as 20 minutes earlier - and they won't be waiting around after school. On the down side more the fifth graders in the Village north of BB and west of N will be walking. This is the same area where the 6th-8th grade students walk now. The recommendation trades increased walk zones for about 40 5th graders against decreased transport and wait times for 4k-4 students and modest reductions in district transportation costs.
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26 comments:
Peter-
Can you explain how the calendar is built for the district? I mean we just had 1.5 days off and now another .5 on Tue.
I believe there is not a full for the rest of the year. How about we slice these days in half and get out of school a few days earlier.
I have a hard time believeing this works for the teachers, either.
Yeah! And Madison went to school during SWEEO and is not taking the rest of their inservice days due to snow day make up. What are we doing about that?
AND how about we save a ton of money in the budget next year by not paying sub pay for teachers to go to meetings. Just get it done after school or on inservice days or not at all. Ridiculous.
There is not a full week for the rest of year, is that what you meant?
The calendar is negotiated with the teacher's union. If teachers want fewer half days, they should tell their negotiators...I doubt the administration would argue with that! The state requires 180 days of school...you cannot combine two half days to get one full day off or you mess up the 180 day count.
Also, can't require teachers to meet after school beyond their contractual day. So, so much has been built into the teacher's contract over the years that leaves little flexibility over a whole lot of stuff.
"The calendar is negotiated with the teacher's union. If teachers want fewer half days, they should tell their negotiators"
So, we are always going to do goofy things with the calendar unless teachers yell...foul?
The definition of goofy:
2 days in a row for a conference and then having the next Tuesday off.
1 week spring break and then the day after spring break off...why not the Fri before?
I have more, but you get the point.
Why is it up to the teachers? Every time I have brought up the wonky schedule, everyone sighs and says it is the teacher's union. Don't they work for the district? Get it right-let out a couple of hours early one day a week, and forget all the other days off. All the other days off. Parents can plan, and kids can have consistency. That is good for kids, right? I would love to know what the teachers do on those days. And I agree with the above poster. Too many subs! Wasted day and wasted money. Peter, take that issue on!
The calendar is designed for interrupted learning and it is not good for kids. Do you think the school calendars in Japan, South Korea, Austria, Finland, Great Britain, or any of the other dozen or so nations that are above the U.S. in educational rankings, are as chopped up and as short as ours?
Between September 1, 2008 and June 11, 2009 there are 38 weeks in which kids are in school but only 24 weeks have 5 full days of instruction. The middle school calendar has 12 half days, and all the schools have 7 days off for WEAC convention in October, Thanksgiving, SWEIO in February, and Memorial Day. Add to this 10 days off for Winter Break, and 5 days off for Spring Break. And wait, don't forget 4 days off for snow or cold this year.
The Teachers Union is not to blame for the goofy calendar. It is a negotiated item in the contract with the Board. The Superintendent and the Board need to show some leadership, and work with the teachers to increase the number of full days the kids are in school. You don't need a district committee to study it, a high priced consulting firm to analyze it, or any other foot dragging nonsense. Cut down on the number of interruptions and breaks in the calendar, increase the number of full days of school, and kids will have more opportunities to learn. How about it Peter?
Bill-
You are right on. You should send that letter to the newspaper so that more folks can see it. And let's challenge the folks running for the board to take on this issue.
Bill thanks for clear answer and concise answer.
"The Teachers Union is not to blame for the goofy calendar."
Oh really? Have you read the contract? Perhaps you should request a copy and inform yourself, including those half days off required for preparing report cards, grading, and compensation for doing parent conferences in the evening hours. Then take a look at when the quarters and semesters end for the middle and high school. After that, look at when the trimesters end for the elementary schools. Once you do that, find out if parents would like it if the high/middle schools have different half days off than the elementary schools because their grade reporting periods are different. You could also find out how many teachers would support changing the reporting periods at either level to synch them. Then request the DPI regulations for minutes and days of school. Once you have done all that, request a parent presence (PTO prez, maybe?)at the meetings where the calendar is formed. I doubt the board would mind.
Gutless (Anonymous) asks, “Have you read the contract …including those half days off required for …”
Yes all those half days are required because they are in the contract. BUT HOW DID THEY GET INTO THE CONTRACT?? The fact that the teachers and the Board agreed to them during negotiations does not mean they contribute to sound educational policy for heaven’s sake. Do you think this calendar is the best we can do? The Superintendent and the Board need to work with the teachers to craft a calendar that meets their needs, but that, first and foremost, is in the best interests of our students.
There are some who might believe that giving teachers adequate time to prepare grades and report cards IS in the best interests of kids. Public schools do not exist to provide childcare. I like half days. I use these to do things with my kids and for things like the dentist and haircuts. Teachers also need time to meet with staff from other buildings and have professional development.
"Gutless (Anonymous) asks, “Have you read the contract …including those half days off required for …”
Yes all those half days are required because they are in the contract. BUT HOW DID THEY GET INTO THE CONTRACT?? The fact that the teachers and the Board agreed to them during negotiations does not mean they contribute to sound educational policy for heaven’s sake. Do you think this calendar is the best we can do? The Superintendent and the Board need to work with the teachers to craft a calendar that meets their needs, but that, first and foremost, is in the best interests of our students."
Please consider serving on the board.
Has anyone heard about Monona getting sidewalks?
who said we wanted them?
I wanted to address the issue of sidewalks, and more broadly, the need to make our streets safer and more inviting to pedestrians.
Monona is a great community in many ways, but Monona is not a pedestrian-friendly community. The simple fact is that the school district is required to provide busing to many students, at great expense to taxpayers, who would otherwise be able to walk to school if our streets were accommodating to pedestrians.
While it IS possible to walk in the street, or to walk through yards on the public right of way, fewer people walk due to the lack of sidewalks and other design features that would make walking safer. So safer streets would allow us to spend less money busing children.
I have often heard comments from parents that Monona needs more sidewalks, and safer streets. While I allow my children to walk or bike around town on clear, sunny days, I always insist on driving them around town when visibility is poor, since I know they will be in the street. And adults make similar decisions.
The result of driving rather than walking has many ill-effects. We waste money on gas, add more wear and tear on our vehicles and roads; and we are less healthy. Not to mention the negative environmental impact of more pollution.
The Safe Routes To School (SRTS) program was started in 2005 to assist communities like Monona, providing valuable grant funding to help improve pedestrian infrastructure like cross-walks and sidewalks. SRTS was established by a Republican Congress and signed by President Bush for all of the reasons stated above, that walking is better for us that driving, particularly for school children. Monona needs to develop a long-range plan to improve our pedestrian infrastructure, and SRTS is a great program that will help pay for any improvements we make.
I proposed the Friendly Streets Ordinance last summer to initiate discussion in our community about such improvements. We have been discussing improvements at Public Safety and Public Works for the last 4 months. I do NOT believe that Monona needs sidewalks on every street, but I do believe that main thoroughfares, which I identified in my original ordinance, need sidewalks or significant improvements which make pedestrian travel safer.
I believe that the lack of safe streets contributes to the lack of families with young children moving into our community, and I presented my ideas to the Family Attraction Committee last month. Some people argue that Monona will lose it's special character if we add any sidewalks, but I think Dean and Nichols Road are just as much a part of Monona as any other street, and both streets already have sidewalks.
I am not willing to wait for a child or anyone else to be hit by a car to decide that this is a priority. I realize that a very vocal group of sidewalk opponents exist in Monona, but I am willing to speak up for the many people who happen to disagree, but who have been afraid to speak up.
I believe that we need to avoid or reduce cutting down trees, by allowing any new sidewalks to meander around mature trees whenever possible. We will need to evaluate all options carefully. I also have proposed adding sidewalks only on one side of the street, to reduce costs. If we can obtain full grant funding, then no property tax assessments would be required. If only partial funding is obtained, then I would support adding the costs of these improvements into the capital budget, to avoid any special assessments, in recognition that these select new paths are for the benefit of ALL citizens. Since most citizens will never have a sidewalk, the few that might get one should not be assessed for costs that exceed any grant funding. The exception would be my own front yard, which needs a sidewalk, and I would gladly pay that assessment.
I want Monona to retain our great community spirit, and I believe that adding a few sidewalks on main residential thoroughfares will help us continue to thrive and prosper, as a great place to raise a family, or simply a great place to live for people of all ages.
A positive next step would be the formation of a SRTS Task force to create a priority list of improvements that would make our streets safer, and allow the district to reduce busing costs. The SRTS program guide suggests that such a task force be comprised of elected leaders, school administrators, parents, and other concerned citizens.
I hope that we can have a healthy dialogue which leads to real improvements in our great city. Please contact me if you are interested in serving on a task force to address this vital public issue.
Sincerely,
Alderman Chad Speight
"The Teachers Union is not to blame for the goofy calendar. It is a negotiated item in the contract with the Board"
They are at least 50% to blame for the goofy calendar, aren't they?
Close Maywood, and then the school district can pay for all of the sidewalks that Chad wants.......I certainly don't want to pay for them! Hell, my kid can't even walk to school here.......unless Chad wants to draw a plan for sidewalks from here to Cottage Grove......
Close Maywood, and then the school district can pay for all of the sidewalks that Chad wants.......I certainly don't want to pay for them! Hell, my kid can't even walk to school here.......unless Chad wants to draw a plan for sidewalks from here to Cottage Grove......
I’ve been following with interest the comments about the school schedule, they do cover a lot of ground. I understand the frustration with the fragmentation of the school calendar; it is a result of many forces- things like providing comp. time for quarterly conferences that are after school hours, grade report time and professional development. Some of these things are negotiated in the contract while some are due to other constraints. Working toward minimizing the interruptions and regularizing the schedule is certainly a goal.
Indeed I firmly agree the that the goal should be to put highest quality teachers in front of the kids for as long as resources and best educational practices would allow. I also think our annual calendar built around the needs of the family based agricultural economy of the 19th century is outdated. But of course change is not easy, simple or cheap and involves a host of considerations. For starters: is taxpayer money best spent lengthening the school year vs. decreasing class size, investing in professional development or expanded performance management? There is a quantity vs. quality argument here, and I have seen support for both sides. One would like to do it all, but we have limited resources.
A lot of forces conspire against any sort of dramatic change. The current funding system, the QEO-mediation-arbitration system and state requirements all lock us into a system of incremental change at best. For example there is no way to cut teacher salaries by 10% (not that I advocate for that, just the example raised above)- should the district offer such a contract we would end up in arbitration, and the arbitrator would certainly reject the proposal and the district would be mandated to accept the union's proposal. Nor could we significantly increase the school year without more money for similar reasons. In reality these things conspire to significantly limit the powers of the school board in the change they can effect.
That said, I do accept the goal to work toward regularization of the schedule and minimizing the demands that take teachers out from in front of kids, at the same time there are other priorities to be tackled – like solving the OPEB liability issue and fixing the structural deficit while trying to improve academic achievement.
Do all the grades have to have the same half days off?
It seems to me, that for elementary kids, half days work better, because the kids are mostly with one teacher. I'd imagine that for them, more days, of shorter time helps them learn.
For the middle and high school kids, it seems to make more sense to combine half days into full days. On half days classes are either shortened or missed, and I'd imagine kids are thinking of going home anyway. For them, they might learn better with a full class.
Is this even possible, or do all days off have to line up between buildings? I know it would add to bussing expenses, and be a problem for parents with kids in 2 schools, but would contracts allow it?
"Do all the grades have to have the same half days off?
It seems to me, that for elementary kids, half days work better, because the kids are mostly with one teacher. I'd imagine that for them, more days, of shorter time helps them learn.
For the middle and high school kids, it seems to make more sense to combine half days into full days. On half days classes are either shortened or missed, and I'd imagine kids are thinking of going home anyway. For them, they might learn better with a full class.
Is this even possible, or do all days off have to line up between buildings? I know it would add to bussing expenses, and be a problem for parents with kids in 2 schools, but would contracts allow it?"
For me, it is not the half days and the number (well it is....but)the real pain is that they seem to be about as random as tea leaves.
Half days either need to be "random" (as to the days of the week) or they need to always be the same day and regularly scheduled. This is because elementary students get art, music, phy ed, etc. on particular days. For instance, if half days were mostly on Fridays, then a classroom who had art on Fridays would miss a lot of art, and so forth. So, for the MG calendar, they are actually "random" to the day of the week on purpose. If you look through past years, you'll notice that all five days of the week are roughly equally represented with half days. About the only way to solve this is to do something akin to Madison - a regular, early release on the same day each week so that specials are never scheduled during that time.
The majority of the half days are release days for grading. They're in the contract, the union won't want to give them up (and I 'm not saying they should), and quite frankly, the board has bigger contractual fish to fry such as the cost of health insurance and retirement benefits. That's not casting either party in a negative light - it's just how it is.
The high school grades on quarters. The elementary grade on trimesters. The half day off for preparing report cards and grades needs to fall within a day or two of the end of the grading period or report cards will not be issued in a timely manner. When the elementary has a grading half day, the middle/high has in-service half day, and vice versa, to keep our kids on the same days. And yes, I think there would be transportation cost issues with changing this.
You cannot combine two half days and make it one whole day off, or you will not meet the 180 calendar requirement. Count our days - I suspect we're 180 on the head. (The state has both a calendar day and minutes of instruction requirement.)
It would be helpful if the Sup or a board member wrote an article on how the calendar is built, and why. Also, the district did survey parents about 10 years ago on their preferences for the calendar. Maybe it's time to do that again. Maybe more elementary parents would rather have a regular early release each week then this random distribution.
" Do all the grades have to have the same half days off?
It seems to me, that for elementary kids, half days work better, because the kids are mostly with one teacher. I'd imagine that for them, more days, of shorter time helps them learn.
For the middle and high school kids, it seems to make more sense to combine half days into full days. On half days classes are either shortened or missed, and I'd imagine kids are thinking of going home anyway. For them, they might learn better with a full class.
Is this even possible, or do all days off have to line up between buildings? I know it would add to bussing expenses, and be a problem for parents with kids in 2 schools, but would contracts allow it?
March 10, 2009 10:45 AM
Anonymous Anonymous said...
"Do all the grades have to have the same half days off?
It seems to me, that for elementary kids, half days work better, because the kids are mostly with one teacher. I'd imagine that for them, more days, of shorter time helps them learn.
For the middle and high school kids, it seems to make more sense to combine half days into full days. On half days classes are either shortened or missed, and I'd imagine kids are thinking of going home anyway. For them, they might learn better with a full class.
Is this even possible, or do all days off have to line up between buildings? I know it would add to bussing expenses, and be a problem for parents with kids in 2 schools, but would contracts allow it?"
For me, it is not the half days and the number (well it is....but)the real pain is that they seem to be about as random as tea leaves.
March 10, 2009 11:46 AM
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Half days either need to be "random" (as to the days of the week) or they need to always be the same day and regularly scheduled. This is because elementary students get art, music, phy ed, etc. on particular days. For instance, if half days were mostly on Fridays, then a classroom who had art on Fridays would miss a lot of art, and so forth. So, for the MG calendar, they are actually "random" to the day of the week on purpose. If you look through past years, you'll notice that all five days of the week are roughly equally represented with half days. About the only way to solve this is to do something akin to Madison - a regular, early release on the same day each week so that specials are never scheduled during that time.
The majority of the half days are release days for grading. They're in the contract, the union won't want to give them up (and I 'm not saying they should), and quite frankly, the board has bigger contractual fish to fry such as the cost of health insurance and retirement benefits. That's not casting either party in a negative light - it's just how it is.
The high school grades on quarters. The elementary grade on trimesters. The half day off for preparing report cards and grades needs to fall within a day or two of the end of the grading period or report cards will not be issued in a timely manner. When the elementary has a grading half day, the middle/high has in-service half day, and vice versa, to keep our kids on the same days. And yes, I think there would be transportation cost issues with changing this.
You cannot combine two half days and make it one whole day off, or you will not meet the 180 calendar requirement. Count our days - I suspect we're 180 on the head. (The state has both a calendar day and minutes of instruction requirement.)
It would be helpful if the Sup or a board member wrote an article on how the calendar is built, and why. Also, the district did survey parents about 10 years ago on their preferences for the calendar. Maybe it's time to do that again. Maybe more elementary parents would rather have a regular early release each week then this random distribution."
I think you should consider serving on our board.
"I think you should consider serving on our board."
Aw gee, thanks, but I'd rather have a bikini wax and a root canal at the same while giving birth without drugs.
"Aw gee, thanks, but I'd rather have a bikini wax and a root canal at the same while giving birth without drugs."
You know, I heard monona is home to a type of waxing that you can not get anywhere else in the Madison area. However, this is a family blog.
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