Houston Schools won't make up missed days!!!

[chiguirre]

I don't believe this. I was chatting with a ps friend and asked about making up the 11 days our schools missed. My ds receives speech services and didn't get started until Oct. 1 (5 weeks into the school year). I thought they'd add 2 weeks onto the end of school, but noooo....

 

They're just going to skip the days!

 

This is a major chunk of the school year. Our local elementary lost 11 days out of 177. So much for valuing education. I'm so glad my kids are either in private school (that opened the Monday after Ike!) or hsed.

 

Well, I guess it's time to turn the rant off and :nopity: for the kids who will miss more than 5% of their school year.

[elegantlion]

Gee, I wonder if I can just write off the 11 days we missed because of hurricanes. Probably not here.

[Kris]

Well, my friend who is a Houston PS school teacher will be happy about this. As a parent, though, I'd be furious. She says they're taking election day as a student holiday, as well.

[Ashleen]

When I was a freshman my teachers went on strike and at first the district was going to have classes anyway using substitute teachers but on the first day an irate teacher threw a brick through a schoolbus window as it drove kids through the picket line. Classes were put on indefinite hold and we didn't start school until late autumn. We didn't have to make up the days (though they were threatening our parents that they'd stay on strike so long we'd have to graduate a year late).

[forty-two]

I'm not remotely surprised by that. It generally seems to work that way. If it is just a few days, then you have to make it up. But if it is quite a bit more than that, then it would be a "hardship" to make it up, and schools get a waiver. Seems to be the same in most places, whether it is too many snow days or too many hurricane days.

 

I'm not really sure what my opinion is about it - it really would be hard to make up a full two weeks extra, but yeah, it does say interesting things about valuing education.

[lynn]

Could it be there is just no money to make up those days. I am sure we are going to see more and more things cutting back as time goes on.

[Joanne]

Hm. Call me cynical, jaded, skeptical....

 

Or maybe, I'm optimistic.

 

I think 11 days is something professionals and kids can work around to learn what's needed for the rest of the year.

 

1) I don't think that 11 days makes all that much difference in what they do.

 

2) Having made lesson plans, plans and organized for a school year myself, I know *I* could work around it if you removed 11 days (and I myself closed for 5 days due to Ike). I'd like to believe that educated professionals in the field can do the same.

 

3) Maybe they can teach to the test less and teach useful information more. :lol:

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Well, my friend who is a Houston PS school teacher will be happy about this. As a parent, though, I'd be furious. She says they're taking election day as a student holiday, as well.

 

Often election day is a holiday because the school is used as a polling place.

[Rosy]

I don't know how I feel about it personally....I'd probably be mad if my kids were there. I think the amount of influence teachers' unions have is ridiculous.

 

My mom's district had a bunch of snow days last year and the teachers ended up having to give up their inservice days and work some Saturdays so they didn't have to go into July.

[abbeyej]

I'm afraid it just doesn't bother me much. It's 11 days. In public school. Any teacher who's really committed to it will be able to squeeze in whatever they planned.

 

And from a school administration standpoint, I can see how it would be a *nightmare* to try to tack two weeks on to the end of the school year. They probably have a couple of weather/disaster days built in already. But if you lose 2 weeks, that's tough to make up. It would require changing the contract for all of the teachers. Parents would be up-in-arms about the trips they already had planned, etc, etc. Numbers of kids would be planning to miss those last two weeks of school... Shudder. I wouldn't want to be a principal in charge of trying to oversee all that.

 

And really. It's 10 days. It's not ideal, but it's not the end of the world. I'd have to think they were really learning a lot in every minute of every day to think that wasn't just going to come out in the wash...

[mamato4girls]

Wow, I am surprised! We always had to make up hurricane days in private school. That is crazy!!

[Haiku]

Cut out all the standardized testing days, and you'll have your 11 days made up in no time!

 

Personally, I don't think that the 11 days should be made up. Our local kids (here in the Midwest) missed anywhere from 3 to 7 days due to an Ike-related windstorm that knocked out power to people's home for up to 10 days. It's just something that happens, ya know? Making kids stay in non-air conditioned buildings until almost July isn't a good solution. Nor is taking away their holiday vacation.

 

In fact, several years ago, my oldest daughter's school went over their calamity days by six. There were heat days at the beginning of the year (because they insist on starting the first week of August) and snow days in the winter. They took away the kids' spring vacation. My daughter had a spring vacation, though. We had family plans and we went through with them. I value education. But not when it means that our life is disrupted.

 

I don't think most kids are missing much in 11 days. Even if it were a month, I wouldn't be for extending the school year (and the little ones and I homeschool year round). There's a lot of fluff in the public schools. Cut that stuff out and stop teaching to the test and you can fit it all in.

 

Tara

[Rhonda in TX]

I saw him on TV when he was announcing when HISD schools would resume classes. He said they would not ask for a waiver and were looking into extending the school day for the first semester to make up the time.

 

The state said they would give a waiver if requested, but originally said that the schools would not get the money for those days if they chose not to make them up. I wonder if that changed.

[gardening momma]

The school districts here have about 5 snow days built in. Maybe the Houston schools have a similar number of days built in for various things (not for snow, probably!). Here, if the weather is waay too hot because of unexpected high temps at the beginning of September, they might close school because not all schools or classrooms have air conditioning. Some schools have individual window-unit air conditioners that just don't provide adequate cooling for the room at high temperatures.

 

So maybe some of Houston's 11 missed days will include a number of allowable days for weather related emergencies? And I agree, they can fit in what they need to in the time they have left of the school year. They have lots of time to figure out how to make the most of the rest of the school year without adding days to the end (and without taking away planned days off).

[Rhonda in TX]

The school districts here have about 5 snow days built in. Maybe the Houston schools have a similar number of days built in for various things (not for snow, probably!). Here, if the weather is waay too hot because of unexpected high temps at the beginning of September, they might close school because not all schools or classrooms have air conditioning. Some schools have individual window-unit air conditioners that just don't provide adequate cooling for the room at high temperatures.

 

So maybe some of Houston's 11 missed days will include a number of allowable days for weather related emergencies? And I agree, they can fit in what they need to in the time they have left of the school year. They have lots of time to figure out how to make the most of the rest of the school year without adding days to the end (and without taking away planned days off).

 

There might (might!) be one day built into the calendar. School is just never closed around here for weather issues. I grew up here and only remember losing one day to weather - snow when I was in kindergarten (the only time it ever snowed!).

[Rhonda in TX]

I wonder if it isn't perhaps a union thing. Perhaps the teachers have certain terms in their contract. (not dissing the union). Who knows.

 

There aren't any teacher unions in the Houston area that I'm aware of. My dad was a teacher and my sister is one.

[Cindyg]

I'd be mad if it were PRIVATE school and I were paying private school TUITION. You know -- if you paid for 20 school days in September, but only got 9, wouldn't you be mad?! But, as we all know, public school is free, so who cares. :) (Seriously, some of those areas are in such a wreck, I don't know how they got back to school with just 11 days missed.)

[camibami]

When we lived in south Mississippi, school had been in about 2 weeks when Katrina hit. It was out until mid October-ish. They did not have to make up the 6-7 weeks, because really- how could they??? School starts mid August, they would have no summer. Those poor kids had been through enough, IMO.

 

I don't see it as "not valuing education", I see it plain common sense. After all, I homeschool for some flexibility to our year (frequent moves, vacations in fall, etc)so how is it different if the ps does it? How many times have given a hs'ing friend with a new baby/health problems the advice that a year or a few months spent in "life coping mode" wouldn't permanently scar the children? I know I have, because I truly believe that. Same thing going on here, IMO.

[Nicole M]

Cut out all the standardized testing days, and you'll have your 11 days made up in no time!

 

 

Tara

 

Heh, heh. Around here, you would have to cut out all the movie days and you'd get your 11. I swear the last three weeks are one big party.

 

We had a couple snow days last year, and by law, they had to be made up. But instead of making up an actual couple days, some genius decided to just tack on 5 minutes to every school day for the last couple months. Right!

[teachermom_7]

I don't believe this. I was chatting with a ps friend and asked about making up the 11 days our schools missed. My ds receives speech services and didn't get started until Oct. 1 (5 weeks into the school year). I thought they'd add 2 weeks onto the end of school, but noooo....

 

They're just going to skip the days!

 

This is a major chunk of the school year. Our local elementary lost 11 days out of 177. So much for valuing education. I'm so glad my kids are either in private school (that opened the Monday after Ike!) or hsed.

 

Well, I guess it's time to turn the rant off and :nopity: for the kids who will miss more than 5% of their school year.

 

 

Here in Louisiana, they wanted to make up the missed days from the hurricanes by not taking the Labor Day holiday and by only taking Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off for the winter break. Needless to say, parents were NOT happy!!

 

They ended up adding a couple of days onto the end of the school, but not enough to make up the entire time missed.

 

Just one more advantage to homeschooling ~ no "hurricane" days!!

 

Tammie in LA

[Tracey in TX]

You can easily make up the work load of 11 days--especially beginning of the school days! It's a get to know your classmates/teacher time. Replace a few extra curricular activities (art, PE, music,recess) for a couple weeks and use that time for academic refreshers instead. That would be ample time to compensate for Hurricane Ike absences.

Regarding Election Day for vacation day--will it be utilized as a teacher workday? Many schools use their facilities as polling locations. (My kids can't wait to go back to their school and see friends as they're in school and we're on a 'field trip'. LOL :)) Hopefully HISD will be making the most of the day "off" for educational purposes.

It really wreaks havoc on high school students to add a week or two at the end of a school year. I would opt to skip spring break, delete a couple days at Christmas break, or cancel the first few days of Thanksgiving break before ever adding to end of school year. IMO nix the ludicrous TAKS testing and--voila!--those days magically have been saved! :lol: TAKS is the biggest waste of a kids' academic year, waste of teachers' attention, and taxpayers' funding.

 

ETA: They really scheduled only 177 days? I thought that 180 was the minimum number. Our district plans 186 days/academic year. My goal is to have my kiddos follow the 186 days used by their peers.

Edited October 7, 2008 by Tracey in TX

[mazakaal]

I think if they take the 'Christmas party day' and the 'end-of-school party day' and the 'mid-term movie day' and the 'zoo day' and just did academics with them, they could easily make up 11 days. Not saying that the zoo isn't important, but maybe the school system could let the parents take care of that on a Saturday this year.

[chiguirre]

Here's the link to the Chron article:

 

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6034499.html

 

There aren't any weather days built into our ps schedules. I won't care if it were less than a week, but more than 5% of your school year is a substantial amount of school. If you missed that many days because of illness, they would consider holding you back.

[kaylk in tx]

http://tx.aft.org/hft/index.cfm?action=cat&categoryID=559E3C78-738E-42A6-9DCD-C174522891BA

 

they do not negotiate contracts with the districts. they do some lobbying with the state legislature and provide insurance coverage for their members. but that's about it. fwiw i only joined for the insurance!

[Rhonda in TX]

http://tx.aft.org/hft/index.cfm?action=cat&categoryID=559E3C78-738E-42A6-9DCD-C174522891BA

 

I'm not sure how many teachers are actually part of that union, though. Maybe more than I realized. I'm going to ask my sister about it.

 

We have lots of friends that are teachers (one is a high school principal), so there is always lots of education talk when we're together. I've never heard anyone bring up the union. Maybe they're more involved in other districts.

[readwithem]

I'd be mad if it were PRIVATE school and I were paying private school TUITION. You know -- if you paid for 20 school days in September, but only got 9, wouldn't you be mad?! But, as we all know, public school is free, so who cares. :) (Seriously, some of those areas are in such a wreck, I don't know how they got back to school with just 11 days missed.)

 

Last I heard the private school where my dd takes dance is going to make up the days. They're taking away their fall break (in a couple weeks) and going on some Saturdays. This is a college prep school so getting in all the AP coursework is critical.

[Angel]

I don't think 11 is such a big deal. We've already missed 5 since starting. Three for an unexpected funeral and 2 sick days.

[Erica in PA]

If I didn't have to keep track of 180 days here in PA, I wouldn't really mind. I don't think missing 11 days of school, whether it's in p.s. or homeschool really makes much difference. It is possible to make up that learning in various ways. However, since there is a lot of emphasis on homeschoolers getting their 180 days where I live, with no exceptions, it does sort of irritate me to hear of public schools not holding themselves to the same standard.

[mommaduck]

I'm with Erica...I would think it's neither here nor there if it weren't for the fact that WE are being held to a higher standard by the system that is supposed to be setting the standard.

[Kris]

If I didn't have to keep track of 180 days here in PA, I wouldn't really mind. I don't think missing 11 days of school, whether it's in p.s. or homeschool really makes much difference. It is possible to make up that learning in various ways. However, since there is a lot of emphasis on homeschoolers getting their 180 days where I live, with no exceptions, it does sort of irritate me to hear of public schools not holding themselves to the same standard.

 

When I go back and look at what we've accomplished in any eleven day period, it is considerable. So that's what I'm basing my opinion on. I'd be hard pressed to figure out how to make that up without adding extra days, but I'm not very imaginative, either. :lol:

 

But our goal here is to do the work, no matter how long it takes, so we're doing school well beyond the state requirement of 1,000 hours a year anyway. We had some "hurricane days" here, too -- actually they were "tropical storm days" -- because the power was out. No where near eleven, of course.

 

I agree with you -- HSers shouldn't be held to a higher standard than the PS schools as far as attendance requirements go. Have you had a similar situation in Pennsylvania -- I know the weather can get brutal up there in the winter time. Our local school allows so many "snow days" and that was the first reality check for The Kid -- no "snow days" at home. :lol:

 

In this particular case, I don't *think* Texas has minimum attendance requirements for their homeschoolers? I'm probably wrong -- and too lazy to look it up. :D

[kaylk in tx]

homeschools are considered private schools and as such do not have to follow any tea (texas education agency) requirements. the only requirement is to follow a "bona fide" curriculum which covers math, citizenship, spelling, and a couple other things....

 

i don't mind the districts not making the days up. it would be a major PITA to schedule. there are 2 bad weather days built into the school calendar that become days off if they're not needed for makeups. i haven't heard if they're going to use those or not.

 

now if texas had hs attendance requirements, i'd fully expect that any clemency the local district was awarded would also be extended to homeschoolers. if not, i'd be FURIOUS!

[Robin in Tx]

I bet they get the same amount of work done either way. They'll double up on a few things here and there, etc.

 

They've got the rest of the school year to spread those 11 lessons over. Most the homeschoolers here that I know who missed at least a week or more due to no electricity, etc., don't anticipate having to school halfway into June if they were originally planning to finish by the end of May.

 

The outside classes my daughter takes missed two weeks and they're not making up, either. They've covering the material by working a little faster/harder for a while.