You may recall that the Regional Superintendent of Schools, Gerald Brookhart, stated recently that District 150’s plan to shorten Wednesdays by 90 minutes each week conforms to the State’s school code. Well, apparently the Illinois State Board of Education sees things differently.
The school code requires students to receive a minimum of five clock hours (300 minutes) of instructional time per school day. If 90 minutes are cut from Wednesdays, then students would receive less than five instructional hours those days. District 150 tried to say that was acceptable because the average number of instructional hours per day over the course of a week would still be more than five. They also tried to label Wednesdays “improvement days,” which are covered by other provisions of the school code. Education reporter Dave Haney reports that ISBE officials rejected those arguments:
[The ISBE] said improvement days are designed for all schools in a district, not just certain schools as the district has proposed, and the half-days are limited to specific school improvement topics listed in the local school improvement plan.
What’s more, the ISBE said the school code mandates a minimum of 300 minutes of instruction every day.
In response, District 150 Superintendent Ken Hinton has floated the idea of only cutting 45 or 60 minutes from Wednesdays instead of 90. No matter what happens, Hinton is determined to cut at least some time from the school day. “‘The time to collaborate and look at the data, it has to happen – (teachers) just don’t have time to grow professionally,’ said Hinton, who added the district needs to implement change now if it wants to see drastic student improvement,” the Journal Star reported.
Hinton has never explained why the school day has to be cut in order to provide professional development time. The District 150 Watch group gave Hinton several suggestions for how that goal could be accomplished without cutting the school day. Why doesn’t he use one of those suggestions?
“Why doesn’t he use one of those suggestions?”
Because he’s hell-bent on his way or the high-way. Remember in the beginning it had nothing to do with “professional development time,” it had to do solely with the budget.
I think I am going to throw up!!!
As time goes on, I like this man less and less and less….. He does not have the best interest of the children at heart, nor the city. This is not a plan for a sound educational system. It is the plan of a man that I see as demented. Oh, wait…. is there a plan?
Following Ken Hinton’s reasoning, by lengthening the school day, student achievement will actual decrease, right?
Without trying to be condescending, let me try and explain.
Administrators are not taught to care about the children, or the parents or the teachers. Their job, their reason to exist, is to maintain and expand the structure of the bureaucracy. It is a place for teachers to go when they are burned out… when they quit caring. I have only ever met a couple of good teachers that made a good administrator, and they hated it. It is a place where ex-educators can go to “get mine”. Big money, little effort…
PI, that’s correct, we have to shorten the district’s primary school day to increase student achievement.
Oh, wait! Unless you are talking about Manual High School, then he said lengthening the school day will improve student achievement (along with painting the walls and cleaning the building).
Oh – and then there’s the district schools run by Edison – you have to have a longer school day there to increase student achievement.
And then there’s Roosevelt – you have to have a longer day there to increase student achievement too.
His logic makes my head spin. TILT!
PC- if I remember correctly they (d150) did in fact cut the length of the school day and possibly even the length of the school year at the Edison Schools.
Yes they did – from the original model, but it is still longer than the other District #150 primary and middle schools.
Prairie Celt/septboy: Edison’s school day is longer by 45 minutes than other D150 schools, but the length of the school year is identical to other D150 schools.