MSD, Late Start Wednesdays are a BAD IDEA

September 9, 2009

To: Idaho Joint School District #2, Meridian School District
      Superintendent Linda Clark
      Board of Trustees

Re: Late Start Wednesdays

As parents of students in the Meridian School District, we are joining forces to STRONGLY OPPOSE and OVERTURN the decision to incorporate "Late Start Wednesdays" into our children's educational pursuits.  The sole purpose of school is for the advancement and education of CHILDREN.

We agree on the the value of Collaboration Time to the teacher, but feel that our children are being negatively effected by this intrusion at the start of the school day on Wednesdays.

We have several issues supporting our opposition.
     - Disrupted Routine: We believe that the our children's routines are interrupted in a very negative way by starting the school day 20 minutes later than the other days of the week.  It is a chaotic and miserable beginning to their Wednesdays.  Not only does it intrude on their morning routine, but it disrupts the routine of the entire day.  At the elementary level, the morning recess is skipped; at the middle school level, their study hall period is six minutes, and at the high school level, the lunch hour is shortened.  At all three of levels of the schools, there is a negative disruption in their educational routine, as well as a health and social disruption of the students' lives.  This issue overlaps with the issue of skipped breaks.
      - Skipped Breaks:  As stated previously, at the elementary level, the morning recess is skipped.  There are many students who need a break from the educational stimulus which comes from activity they can only get at recess - stretching, running, walking, talking socially. There are some students who may not need this break.  The teaching and educational retribution of this in the classroom is that the students who DO need a break become disruptions to those who may NOT need a break, and thereby require more of the teachers to maintain a healthy learning classroom environment.
At the Middle School level:  The study hall period at the beginning of the day is typically 26 minutes long.  By starting 20 minutes late, this allows 6 minutes for study hall period, and then they are off to first period where they review announcements or other things they would have missed during study hall.  This intrusion disrupts the learning atmosphere in first period, and does not allow for the mental organization and preparation that some students need.  At the high school level, the lunch hour is disrupted, which negatively affects the health and social routine of the students, as well as causes unnecessary rushing through their meal.
These issues - recess, study hall, and lunch - should not be intruded upon with the idea that the 20 minutes at the beginning of the day make up for this time later in the students' day.  This issue overlaps on the issue of routine.
      - Unattended Students:  Whether the students are in the hall reading a book, on the playground for an extra 20 minutes, or participating in another time-wasting activity, there are many, many students who are not attended.  Although the duty/student ratio is 1:75, we believe this ratio is significantly inept, and students should not be herded and watched from a distance.  There are MANY things that can occur while simply being watched but not attended to, such as verbal or physical bullying, inappropriate physical advances such as "elbowing" or inappropriate touching.
     - Misuse of time by teaching staff:  Because of the inept ratio of duty/students, there are teachers who are rotated in and out of collaboration to act as playground duties.  This completely negates the whole concept of teacher collaboration.  Do the teachers collaborate on the playground?

We believe there are several solutions to Late Start Wednesdays, and request that IMMEDIATE ACTION be taken to modify the Teacher Collaboration Period.  The following are solutions from parental collaboration:
     - Early Release Weekly:   Allow students to be released from school 20 minutes early at the END of one school day on a weekly basis.  Work with the bus companies to have early pick-up on that day only.  This will allow an equal amount of collaboration time for the teachers at the end of the scheduled day.  This solution does not seem to have a negative intrusion on our students.
      - Early Release Monthly: Allow students to be released from school 80 minutes early one day each month, i.e., the first Friday of each month.  Early release on a monthly basis will allow cumulative collaboration for the teachers at which time more and better planning could be accomplished as well as support and cohesiveness among the teachers.  Work with the bus companies to have early pick-up on the scheduled day.  This solution does not seem to have  a negative intrusion on our students.

As parents, care takers, and concerned tax payers of the State of Idaho, WE CALL FOR AN IMMEDIATE REVIEW AND MODIFICATION OF THE TEACHERS' COLLABORATION PERIOD.  We are petitioning on behalf of our children to halt the negative intrusions on their educational pursuits through the Late Start Teacher Collaboration time currently ongoing in our schools.