atl school days longer and no school on fridays

Mrs.Staufer is addressing the school board tonight(1-11-10) trying to get them to approve a 4 day school week with the day starting at 7:15 and ending at 4:08. that means the busses will be picking some kids up at 5:30am. that means the same kids wont be getting home til 6pm. that is more then a 12 hour day for the kids. If you have an opnion on this please speek up, we only have 2 weeks before she makes this go into affect. if she get the board to approve it, it will begin Jan 25 and run til the end of the school year.
It is supposed to save the district $25,000 in transportation costs. but it also leaves the preschool parents in a bind because they will have to drive and pick up preschoolers as state law limits how long there school day can be. not to mention parents finding a sitter for younger kids, on friday.

she must be out of her mind. This may work on paper and for the seniors that want the friday off too.

But the elementry kids are not going to want to go to school all day and night.
they would be getting on the bus at dark, and it would also be dark at school boarding the bus for home.

That leaves little time for supper,clean-up, baths/showers, wind-down time and finnaly sleep.
Break that down for my kids living in town with a 10 minute bus ride:

5:30 out
5:45 on the bus
6:00 (roughly) arrive home (already suppertime)
6:00-7:00 supper
7:00-7:45 (3 kids big mess) clean-up
7:45-8:00 little guys bath (8 is his bedtime)
He will not be happy with a 15 minute bath normal is closer to 45minutes

the other 2 take showers about 20 minutes each so that leaves us at about:
8:45 - 15 minutes and bedtime for the second child
9:00 - the big kid gets another 1/2 hour then bedtime for him.

I asked all 3 kids and explained it to them as Staufer would. They were not impressed at all.

If I had the time I would go and voive my opinion but I do not have time to go to a meeting

there is no time for homework in that schedule. Longer day than most adults.

The kids would start school at 7:30 according to the paperwork that came home today, teachers have to be there at 7:10. And end at 4:08.

Even though this means my kids (and I) will have to get up at 4:30 to get on the bus a little after 5 and won't be home til closer than 6, I still think, from a cost savings stand point, it is a good idea to a very bad situation that the state has put the schools in.

We have to make cuts somewhere, and I would rather see this than another person lose their job.

From what the paperwork says, there will be virtually no homework. They will have longer classes in which to get things done and it will be required to be in at the end of the class period.

Hurray for no homework!

I think it makes for to long of a day for the kids. when they are playing sports, they have a long day as it is, waking up 1 to 2 hours earlier, getting home an hour later, its just to much on our kids. they will b walking zombies, as my boy puts it. I do appreciate the effort put forth to try to come up with a solution, but my kids dont have enough hours in the day as it is.

Well, I must say that is one of the most ridiculous solutions to the budget woes I have ever heard! I don't have kids in school any longer and if I did, they would be going to a different school. Then you could subtract the money you save by the money you would lose with lost student count. Trust me, there are parents with children in ATL that would pull their kids.

Ducky wrote:

Well, I must say that is one of the most ridiculous solutions to the budget woes I have ever heard! I don't have kids in school any longer and if I did, they would be going to a different school. Then you could subtract the money you save by the money you would lose with lost student count. Trust me, there are parents with children in ATL that would pull their kids.

1. This is not a solution to the budget woes. It is a suggestion on how the district can save money while offering a better educational opportunity for the students. Their work would be turned in daily with much less homework being sent home. Time spent in school saves time at home.

2. You don't have kids in school, but you are in the forefront on telling others to pull their kids out of school before you even know the details.

3. There will be a public hearing on Jan. 18 at 7pm at the school. The public will be heard. Before you go screaming into the night for everyone to pull their kids it might be an idea to listen to both sides of the proposal.

4. One of the items being looked at is changing the bus routs so that the bus rides will be shortened.

5. If you take your kids (which are no longer in school) to JO-Burg you would be saving ten minutes in the morning. They start ten minutes later than the proposed start in Atlanta and they would be in school on Fridays. Not to mention the drive to and from Jo-Burg twice a day. Sounds as if you are ready to cut off your nose to spite your face.

In summation, this topic was brought up because the State has cut $165 per pupil from this years budget. Next year they are cutting $434 per pupil. If planning is not done now to try to find solutions to these cuts and teachers are laid off you would probably threaten to "pull your kids out of Atlanta" because the teachers were let go.

Get a grip wrote:

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1. This is not a solution to the budget woes. It is a suggestion on how the district can save money while offering a better educational opportunity for the students. Their work would be turned in daily with much less homework being sent home. Time spent in school saves time at home.
2. You don't have kids in school, but you are in the forefront on telling others to pull their kids out of school before you even know the details.
3. There will be a public hearing on Jan. 18 at 7pm at the school. The public will be heard. Before you go screaming into the night for everyone to pull their kids it might be an idea to listen to both sides of the proposal.
4. One of the items being looked at is changing the bus routs so that the bus rides will be shortened.
5. If you take your kids (which are no longer in school) to JO-Burg you would be saving ten minutes in the morning. They start ten minutes later than the proposed start in Atlanta and they would be in school on Fridays. Not to mention the drive to and from Jo-Burg twice a day. Sounds as if you are ready to cut off your nose to spite your face.
In summation, this topic was brought up because the State has cut $165 per pupil from this years budget. Next year they are cutting $434 per pupil. If planning is not done now to try to find solutions to these cuts and teachers are laid off you would probably threaten to "pull your kids out of Atlanta" because the teachers were let go.

I too no longer have kids in school but in this instance I agree with you. The mismanagement of the State Budget and our idiotic reps have put the children at risk.The real answer to this dilemma lays in Lansing and not Atlanta. I find very little that I can support with the current school board and their "Cult" mentality but I find myself defending their approach to making Lemonade with the Lansing lemons.

After hearing about this last week, I decided to do a little research on the 4 day school weeks and discovered they are very popular and seem to work very well. The kids adjust well and seem to like it overall. There are quite a few schools doing this in at least 17 states.

Here is one article on it: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29664981/

and another: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9...

I found one older story where Arenac Eastern did this, they may still do this, I am not sure.

Just google 'four day school week' and you will find tons of articles about this alternative.

I think it is a darn good solution to a bad problem.

Look at it this way. With the state cuts, it is very likely going to come down to a 4 days school week, or no school here at all.

If you get mad and pull your kids, you will save nothing when you figure out your drive time, etc. The kids will have to still get up earlier, have a longer day and you will have to travel further for school functions, as will your children.

At first when I heard about this, I had a kneejerk reaction and was against it, but the more I thought about it, and researched it, I now support it 100% percent.

My only concern is homework. The teachers will need to make sure to curb their assignments so there is NO homework, and NOT sent homework home to be done on the weekends either. Since family time will be reduced Mon.- Thurs., the weekend will need to be left often for kids and their families, not tied up with homework. Even if it means getting an incomplete if your work is not turned in by the end of the hour, so be it. Maybe then the kids will actually do their work and not goof off.

Anamnesis wrote:

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I too no longer have kids in school but in this instance I agree with you. The mismanagement of the State Budget and our idiotic reps have put the children at risk.The real answer to this dilemma lays in Lansing and not Atlanta. I find very little that I can support with the current school board and their "Cult" mentality but I find myself defending their approach to making Lemonade with the Lansing lemons.

You and Get a Grip both make valid and thoughtful points. As long as we pay property taxes, pay sales tax, or even buy lottery tickets in Michigan we have a right to speak on how the politicians and school officials perform their functions. Those taxes and lottery proceeds are the method of funding public schools. This is true even if we no longer have children in public school. We do not work for the politicians or government bureaucracies and as long as they exist on our dime, they are answerable to us and we need to learn that and live it.

IJFinsterwaldIII wrote:

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You and Get a Grip both make valid and thoughtful points. As long as we pay property taxes, pay sales tax, or even buy lottery tickets in Michigan we have a right to speak on how the politicians and school officials perform their functions. Those taxes and lottery proceeds are the method of funding public schools. This is true even if we no longer have children in public school. We do not work for the politicians or government bureaucracies and as long as they exist on our dime, they are answerable to us and we need to learn that and live it.

Our kids were "Promised" funds for college if they maintained good grades by our legislators. They reneged on this they "raided" the lottery funds designated by law to fund education. They did that little trick by putting lottery funds into the general fund then improperly using those funds elsewhere. We cannot trust nor should we, anything coming out of Lansing or Washington. We have been lied to and tricked too many times. I agree with you that they are answerable to us and we "the people" should replace those weasels with honorable representatives who follow the Constitution and indeed "represent" their constituents

Keep it Simple! Busing is not required! If you want a 5 day week a fee of .50 per ride will cover the $25,000. Can you take your kids to the school for that price? What will be the child care arrangements and cost on Friday? Pay the .50! Sports is not required! I believe in sports but not at the cost of education.

White House in Atlanta wrote:

Keep it Simple! Busing is not required! If you want a 5 day week a fee of .50 per ride will cover the $25,000. Can you take your kids to the school for that price? What will be the child care arrangements and cost on Friday? Pay the .50! Sports is not required! I believe in sports but not at the cost of education.

.50 cents a day - that would be a lot better than this all day school crap. Hell I'd even go as far as 1.00 a day still beats listning to my kids whine because they cant do anything after school.
I think the money from the sale of the old elementry sure would come in handy right now wouldnt it? But where did that money go? oh I remember it blacktopped the teachers parking lot (which was perfectly fine before).
The entire school board is completly incapable of keeping the doors open to the ATL school.

White House in Atlanta wrote:

Keep it Simple! Busing is not required! If you want a 5 day week a fee of .50 per ride will cover the $25,000. Can you take your kids to the school for that price? What will be the child care arrangements and cost on Friday? Pay the .50! Sports is not required! I believe in sports but not at the cost of education.

That brings back the old times..Do you remember when school boards were faced with declining funds because a millage failed? They would cut out busing or sports since its not required by law. This made the parents fold to the demands of boards. The answer still remains fiscal responsibility. Think back 30 years or so when government was not in its entitlement mentality. They didn't spend money that was not budgeted. This held true for the schools and general day to day operations of the local, county, state and federal government. Now they've gone crazy with throwing money all over and now that they spent everything and mortgaged our children's and grand kid's future. I'm bashing all the so called elected leaders, not just the school boards. People wake up you can't borrow yourself out of debt. Why is it that the state mandates a balanced school budget but theirs is a disaster as well as the Federal budget too. The Fed's mandate "No Child left behind" and dump this massive debt on the local school district but fail to give them the funds to accomplish this task? That's forcing a unreasonable debt onto the school district without caring that the local district does not have the money to pay. The mobsters did that years ago it was then called "protection" but had the same effect. extortion from the little guy

Everyone needs to relax on this issue. I completely understand the facts of how early the bus pick up is and drop off to home would be... not to mention how much of an inconvience in day care there would be. The other side is funding... your school is falling apart just like many other schools in the country. The fact is you could be out of the bus system, classes, sports and other things that keep the school running.

The fact that as parents you might be put out, what is the main concern? The children's education and quality of life. There are facts that a long school day will not impact the kids in the long run... schools in many states run year around and it works for them very well. We parents here in Michigan have no idea how GOOD we actually have it. You have no gangs, no serious crime or terror threats. Your children get a quality education, regardless the fact that Atlanta is a hole in the wall town that is dying on a daily basis.

Stop with all the chronic complaining and weigh the facts and see that you do not have it all that bad. There are schools in Metro Detroit that would give anything to have the luxuries your small pathetic town has. Grow up and stop bitchin' because there are many others out there that have it a lot worse than Atlanta Community Schools has it.

Keep up the chaos and the choice will be do your kids go to Hillman, Jo-burg or Onaway...

I'm sure most parents wouldn't mind being "put out" for the sake of their children, but it makes a difference financially. 4-day school weeks would most likely add more daycare hours, which would in turn cost families more money that they are already strapped for. Everyone wants the best for their children, but realistically, would it be "better" if the household funds were cut even closer due to support more daycare costs?

As far as gangs, serious crime or terror threats - the root of all these is usually money-based and if there isn't any money to begin with, there won't be anything to pilfer. We are not Metro Detroit. No comparison there.

There are ALWAYS areas in which the school budget can be trimmed, but there are those unwilling to do that. In times of need, EVERYTHING possible must be done internally to fix the problem before presenting a 4-day school week to parents who are already stretched too thin to make ends meet. Look at extracurricular activities, sports programs (yes, I said sports programs), camps, field trips, etc. These are all nice, but the focus needs to remain on education. When/if times get better, bring back these programs. It's now down to wants vs. NEEDS.

While other Michigan school districts are working on a "Race To The Top", Atlanta schools is winning the "Race To The Bottom"! Congratulations

Charger07, What else besides sports are there to do here? If Altanta drops sports they will loose more students. I understand some people may work a ways a way, but if the students need to be in school at 7:30, how many parents work before then? Can they not drop off their kids if they are so worried about the long day? Then those that participate in sports have something to do while waiting for their parents to pick them up. Homework should not be an issue because the teachers are supposed to give the students time at the end of each class to do it, besides many of the students do not do their homework anyway. For those of you that need daycare, see if you can possibly work something out with a classmates parent or a friend that stays home. Just a suggestion.

MeIsmyaka wrote:

Everyone needs to relax on this issue. I completely understand the facts of how early the bus pick up is and drop off to home would be... not to mention how much of an inconvience in day care there would be. The other side is funding... your school is falling apart just like many other schools in the country. The fact is you could be out of the bus system, classes, sports and other things that keep the school running.
The fact that as parents you might be put out, what is the main concern? The children's education and quality of life. There are facts that a long school day will not impact the kids in the long run... schools in many states run year around and it works for them very well. We parents here in Michigan have no idea how GOOD we actually have it. You have no gangs, no serious crime or terror threats. Your children get a quality education, regardless the fact that Atlanta is a hole in the wall town that is dying on a daily basis.
Stop with all the chronic complaining and weigh the facts and see that you do not have it all that bad. There are schools in Metro Detroit that would give anything to have the luxuries your small pathetic town has. Grow up and stop bitchin' because there are many others out there that have it a lot worse than Atlanta Community Schools has it.
Keep up the chaos and the choice will be do your kids go to Hillman, Jo-burg or Onaway...

I don't feel that your in any position to call Atlanta "pathetic" You better get the facts before berating anyone. One of the biggest problems that rural school districts face is the disproportionment of state funds that go primarily to Wayne Oakland and Macomb counties. Check the state payments to Birmingham schools as compared to Atlanta. Even though they are in a very affluent area with a strong tax base their kids get more back from the state than we do. Secondly due to the economy in northern Michigan being in the dumper because of misuse of tax revenues. As for Atlanta being a "dying hole in the wall town" I proudly say we have one thing we're very proud of, that fact that you, a mean spirited person doesn't live here. Its normal and acceptable to disagree on a subject, but it is not acceptable to be disagreeable. Your argument loses creedence when you resort to name calling and flaming on a person, organization or area. Many of us who live in Atlanta and are proud to say it are "Transplants" from the Detroit area and I for one feel that this place with all of its faults is much better than downstate. In closing I would suggest you follow your own advice and "Grow Up"