Post by gatormom on Aug 13, 2006 6:28:01 GMT -6
Dist. 204 policy means extra time for teachers
By Sara Hooker
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Sunday, August 13, 2006
Indian Prairie Unit District 204 officials plan to relieve elementary teachers of one hour of duties every other week this school year by hiring substitute teachers.
The proposal is a scaled-back version of an ill-fated late-start program proposed by administrators earlier this year.
The new program will cost $100,000 to $150,000 to provide the district’s 500 elementary school teachers with more time for collaboration, Superintendent Howard Crouse said.
“That was a cost that we were going to be able to avoid with the late start (program), but that wasn’t acceptable to our community at this time,” he said.
The district includes portions of Naperville, Aurora, Bolingbrook and Plainfield.
The late-start program would have started school one hour late one day a week at a loss of about 14 to 17 hours of instructional time throughout the year.
Officials pulled the program from consideration after getting negative feedback from parents.
Administrators say teachers need the time to collaborate on assessment and curriculum initiatives driven by federal education guidelines.
“As we’ve added more and more to our expectations, we have to look at how to best utilize their time,” Crouse said. “We’re going to try a couple of other things to try to free teachers up so they can meet with the other staff members in a regular way to talk about kids and how to improve instruction and to acknowledge that teachers cannot do their entire job as individuals in one classroom all day long.”
The school board agreed to find extra time for teachers outside of class in its recent three-year contract agreement with teachers.
“There’s not a detailed plan (yet),” board member Mark Metzger said. “We’re simply committed to get them substitutes for the first year and finding a way to deal with it after that.”
The district also will consolidate four half-days of scheduled improvement programs into two full days.
“It’s acknowledging that what we ask teachers to do is a much more complicated, intense job than what many people believe it to be,” Crouse said. “Those who complain that teachers only work nine months and have jobs where they’re done at 3:30 (p.m.) have no idea or understanding of what the role of a teacher is in today’s society.”
By Sara Hooker
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Sunday, August 13, 2006
Indian Prairie Unit District 204 officials plan to relieve elementary teachers of one hour of duties every other week this school year by hiring substitute teachers.
The proposal is a scaled-back version of an ill-fated late-start program proposed by administrators earlier this year.
The new program will cost $100,000 to $150,000 to provide the district’s 500 elementary school teachers with more time for collaboration, Superintendent Howard Crouse said.
“That was a cost that we were going to be able to avoid with the late start (program), but that wasn’t acceptable to our community at this time,” he said.
The district includes portions of Naperville, Aurora, Bolingbrook and Plainfield.
The late-start program would have started school one hour late one day a week at a loss of about 14 to 17 hours of instructional time throughout the year.
Officials pulled the program from consideration after getting negative feedback from parents.
Administrators say teachers need the time to collaborate on assessment and curriculum initiatives driven by federal education guidelines.
“As we’ve added more and more to our expectations, we have to look at how to best utilize their time,” Crouse said. “We’re going to try a couple of other things to try to free teachers up so they can meet with the other staff members in a regular way to talk about kids and how to improve instruction and to acknowledge that teachers cannot do their entire job as individuals in one classroom all day long.”
The school board agreed to find extra time for teachers outside of class in its recent three-year contract agreement with teachers.
“There’s not a detailed plan (yet),” board member Mark Metzger said. “We’re simply committed to get them substitutes for the first year and finding a way to deal with it after that.”
The district also will consolidate four half-days of scheduled improvement programs into two full days.
“It’s acknowledging that what we ask teachers to do is a much more complicated, intense job than what many people believe it to be,” Crouse said. “Those who complain that teachers only work nine months and have jobs where they’re done at 3:30 (p.m.) have no idea or understanding of what the role of a teacher is in today’s society.”
?) But the district believes spending $150,000 extra a year to hire substitute teachers to watch the students for an hour each week while fulltime teachers meet will be embraced by the cost-conscious residents of the school district? Yeah, right.