Parents across the Southeast are getting angry as their children’s school districts have added extra days for teachers to help them cope with stress and anxiety.
during the lockdown coronavirus With the pandemic, school systems across the country are facing a shortage of teachers, forcing many to fill in on their brakes for their colleagues.
At the same time, students need more help from teachers after facing a year of virtual learning, and school districts across the country are constantly having to adjust their masking, quarantine, testing and immunization requirements.
As a result, many school districts in the southeastern United States are adding half a day more to their calendars, or extending the holiday break by one or more days.
But parents in these districts claim that after facing 18 months of virtual learning, when standards have dropped across the country, students are losing valuable education time.
He says districts should instead focus on more substitute teachers, increase the salaries of teachers they already have, and reduce the burden of new curricula and initiatives.
Schools across the Southeast are adding half a day more to their calendars, or extending vacation time by one or more days to help teachers cope with the stress of the school year. Mrs Keona Moxie is seen here with her third grade at Warner Arts Magnet Elementary School in Nashville, Tennessee
According to data company, Barbio, the trend of adding more time for teachers to focus on mental health caught on in early November, when several districts in the Southeast closed a long weekend by canceling school on Friday, November 12. chose to create. Who keeps an eye on the closure of the school.
Its data shows that announcements of school closures intensified in the middle of the month, as several districts decided to cancel classes for the entire week of Thanksgiving.
‘Volumes were really high, really early,’ told Barbio president Dennis Roche Wall Street Journal.
He said the company has closed at least 3,145 schools nationwide for mental health needs so far this year, primarily in North Carolina, Virginia and Missouri.
This represents more than a third of the 8,692 closures so far this year, mainly due to quarantine or staffing reasons.
The Detroit school system, for example, announced on November 17 that there would be virtual instruction on three Fridays in December, with superintendent Nikolai P. Vitti cited concerns about the needs of ‘school-based leaders, teachers, support staff, students and families. For mental health relief.’
DC’s largest charter network, KIPP DC, also turned the Friday after Veterans Day into a staff and student welfare day without any instructions.
And in New Bern, North Carolina, Craven County school superintendent Wendy Miller cited mental health concerns on November 12 to cancel school and ask students and staff to do something for themselves or others.
She told the Journal that she’s been in classes every week this fall and has seen teachers struggle to help their students catch up academically, as well as teach basic skills, which she said last 18 months. What is lacking after less personal interaction.
“It’s a challenge to come back after 18 months,” Miller said.
Some school districts are now shortening their days, such as Suffolk Public School in Virginia, which is shortening every other Wednesday to help take pressure off its teachers.
And in Maryland, at least six school districts have revamped their calendars to add more days of release, Washington Post Report.
Schools in Howard County shortened the hours of instruction to six days, while Prince George, Montgomery and Baltimore counties shortened the hours to three days or more.
But the school board’s decision to reduce the hours of instruction has upset some parents, with Baltimore County parent Carol Vidal, who testified against the shift, telling state officials that the trend is the state’s This seemed odd with the requirement that each school district provide 180 days of individual learning.
Under Maryland law, post reports, half-days do not affect the 180-day requirement, although school districts must also meet state requirements for total hours of instruction.
‘The timing of the instruction is really important,’ said Vidal, ‘he said we’re going to catch up this year.
,[But] Instead of looking for other creative solutions, the first thing they do is find the nearest school.’
The issue has come to the fore in the Montgomery County school system in Maryland, where district officials have set three days for early dismissals in January, March, and May.
They say the total number of hours of instruction for the school this year will exceed state requirements, and cited the need for teacher professional development and planning time.
Jennifer Martin, president of the Montgomery County Education Association, a 14,000-member teachers’ union, said early release was “desperately needed.”
‘This is an important step towards improving morale and giving teachers the space they need to prepare for the students and give them an excellent education.’
Student board member Hana O’Looney said even the shorter days would give students a break, noting: ‘We talk about mental health a lot.
‘When you give students a chance to rest and recharge, they can return to the classroom stronger, more motivated, more ready to work.’
The issue of school closures for mental health has come to the fore at Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland (pictured), where parents argue that their children need more instruction as they struggle to find after-school care. when their children are dismissed early
Some parents and school board members have stated that as a result of the policy, students will not miss too much class time, just less than nine hours.
But school board member Lynn Harris said the change needed to be examined more carefully.
‘We want to take action that has a direct impact on parents and guardians and caregivers and their professional responsibilities – and for the past 21 months many of them have been pushing it, regardless of whether they work in the ER at Holy Cross. be or [checkout] Huge on-line.
The issue also struck a nerve with some parents because the district was slow to reopen compared to most in Maryland, the Post reports, with some saying they don’t want their kids to lose as much time to education. Give – pointing to district data showing a decline in maths and literacy in September
Nikki Gillum Posnack, a mother of two, said, ‘I think teachers are stressed, but I don’t think three half-days is going to solve it. She said that ‘half a day is a joke,’ noting: ‘It wasn’t just losing nine hours. We are losing three days.
Cynthia Simonson, chair of the Montgomery Council of PTA, said families with young children are particularly disappointed by the move.
“Half days are notorious days for education and create challenges with regard to child care.
The district, for its part, has said it will work with community organizations on after-school options for half the days.
The district is adding a full seven days off during the winter and spring holidays for year-round employees, many of whom work in administrative and support systems.
In the past, if these employees wanted leave, they would request vacation time.
Montgomery School District officials said the total cost of closing would be about $850,000, but did not detail what the cost would be.
He said, however, that he expects the closure to ‘provide a fresh staff with additional time to coordinate learning in our schools.’
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