20 Jun

N.C. students face five more school days

Posted by Emma Kincaid in Education Master | Tags :Days, School Days |

RALEIGH (MCT) — The state legislature slipped a summer surprise into the budget bill: Students are slated to spend five more days in school next year, a total of 185.

School districts, including Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, are scrambling to figure out the new mandate for a calendar that’s already been approved with 180 days.

“Students across the state will benefit from the additional days,” said a statement sent by CMS spokeswoman Kasia Thompson. “Our immediate objectives are to understand the full impact of the law on our school district and determine how we will adapt the approved school calendars to comply with the law.”

Among the twists: The bill gets the extra five classroom days by revoking a requirement for five mandatory teacher workdays, when students stay home. And it allows districts to get a waiver from the N.C. Board of Education if they can demonstrate they have a better plan to “enhance student performance.”

The added days were part of the education agenda for the Republican majority that took office this year.

Wake County Superintendent Tony Tata said Monday he’ll ask his board to apply for the waiver by adding 10 minutes to each school day. Administrators in Johnston and Durham counties also say they’ll seek to avoid the five-day change.

Some district leaders are balking because of the late notice and the prospect of additional costs for such things as running buses and paying hourly staff. Teachers and administrators get no extra pay.

John Tate, a state school board member from Charlotte, said even he was trying to figure out what the new requirement means. Tate says he’s a strong supporter of more class time for kids, once pushing to add five days per year, with additional pay for teachers, until the state hit a 200-day calendar.

But by yanking workdays that teachers use to build their skills, he said, “it’s a little bit of a shell game.” He said the state board will discuss how to deal with the waiver in July. Tate’s interpretation: To get a waiver, districts must show kids would benefit more from the teacher training than they would from five more days in school.

Mary McCray, president of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Association of Educators, said Monday she hopes CMS will make that argument. She said students benefit from teacher training such as CMS’ ongoing summer teachers institute: “We get an extensive amount of ideas and information that we can transfer into our classrooms.”

CMS had already voted to add 45 minutes to the time its elementary school students will be in class next year, a change driven partly by revamping bus schedules to save money. Officials said it will also boost time for academics, though some parents have complained it will be too taxing for the youngest children.

Stephanie Cassell, who will be a senior at Independence High, said the five more days could be beneficial, if not particularly popular with teens. “A lot of teachers are always rushing,” she said. “I think adding extra time would be good.”

Halston Lim, an East Meck student who will attend the N.C. School of Science and Math next year, is skeptical. He said only the best teachers use all the time they have already.

“It doesn’t really make sense to make the year longer when you can make what you have now more effective,” he said.

 

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