SCHOOLS: Parents left out of process

I am a parent of two children attending elementary school in District 271.  I am writing in response to the proposed district-wide changes in school schedules for "job-embedded collaboration" that our elected board trustees will be asked to approve at Monday's meeting.  This new schedule, if implemented, will impact every school with a late start time on Monday mornings and will add 15 minutes to each school day.  I have read that this plan is the result of a year long study by administrative staff.  It disappoints me that during this year long study, parents were not offered the opportunity to provide input or offer a preference.

I believe teacher collaboration is important and useful for our district but I am concerned that no public input was sought in determining the Monday morning time.  I wish I had the opportunity to voice my preference that an afternoon early release, as is done in the District's pilot programs this year is a better option for my family and most parents I know.  An early afternoon release would have less impact on those families needing childcare.  A child's attention and focus is better in the morning which also supports an afternoon early release, if a different time for collaboration is truly necessary. 

 I understand that it is impossible to find a time that would be agreeable to everyone, however, I am not aware of any attempts made by the district to create a dialogue on this subject.  I do not understand why the new schedule deviates from the tested programs in our district currently.   It has not been clearly communicated why we need to change the current process of collaboration taking place on a regularly scheduled basis that does not impact the families that our district serves.

I hope that our Board of Trustees will ask how many parents were surveyed before a decision was made.  Perhaps the Board of Trustees would be interested in parental input instead of actively disregarding their constituency.  Most parents I know are willing to work "collaboratively" on the collaboration schedule but no one asked.

CHRISTA HAZEL

Coeur d’Alene