Reply #11: Budget cuts.

[LWolf]

Our district RIF'd 42 people, including PE and music teachers at the elementary and K-8 schools, and cut the school year down to 147 instructional days.

Then they marketed it to the community by making the days longer, trying to make up for that lost time. Not only is the day longer, we no longer have a prep period during the school day. Teachers are on 10-hour contractual days, and all our prep is done before and after school.

Of course, next week, I have a meeting every single morning before school, so I'll end up staying after school even longer to get all that prep work done.

The district keeps assuring us that other districts all over the country have already gone to 4 days, and that, once we try it, we'll never want to go back. (!)

Adding time on to the end of an already full day doesn't make up for missing 21 instructional days. It's not educationally sound, in this educator's opinion. Of course, I'm sure we'll all get to like the 3 day weekends when we start having them; teachers still have to work some Fridays.

Like tomorrow, when there is a 4 HOUR staff meeting planned. We already had a staff meeting yesterday morning, and we have back-to-school night tonight, which will put us on campus until 8:00. Technically, we can go home after school, as long as we are back by 5:30. Since the last buses don't arrive until 4:30, and few of us live close to our little rural school, few will drive home, only to almost immediately drive back. So most of us will be on campus for 12.5 hours today.

And then back for that 4 hour staff meeting at 7:30 the next morning.