atl school days longer and no school on fridays

Mommy wrote:

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You can find many other schools that have to well with this. The point is that there won't be any homework unless they miss school. Classwork will actually get done instead of going home where it is rarely completed.

The point has nothing to do with homework AT ALL!! the point is this plan would require elementary school kids along with the older kids to be at school by 715 am not to mention that most of these kids would need to be on the bus an hour to an hour and a half before that. were you at the board meeting? if you were you'd know that this plan has been brought up as a way to reduce the budget. she flat out said she could not find any proof this would be detrimental to our kids. i easily found the proof that this long of school day would be detrimental to them. i have no problem with them only going to school for 4 days my problem is the length of the school day for them. most adults DO NOT work as long as she proposed to have kindergarten kids going to school. other schools that did go to a 4 day week did it by only adding 5 minutes to each day not 98 minutes like this proposal. i drove to gaylord tonight to get the full study printed for each of the school board members to read.

another example with the busing problem. although it was completely unforeseeable and unavoidable this past tuesday my kids got off the bus over 40 minutes late they arrived home at 545 pm do to a another student getting sick on the bus. if this were to happen during the proposed 4 day school week my kids would have gotten home about 645 pm and other kids closer to the 8pm mark. on tuesday i started calling every number i could find for the school by the time they were a half hour late. guess what i could not get to 1 person as everyone had already left the building. I ended up calling the police to ask if there had been any accidents involving the bus. no one is at fault for the bus being late as a matter of fact the very next day one of my kids got sick on the same bus and i'm sure other families were worried about there kids getting home late. but how would you like your kids(if you have any in our school) not getting off the bus till around 7 or 8 at night?

Charger07 wrote:

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They (Atlanta teachers)are preparing for waaaaaaaay smaller class sizes, though, so I don't feel it is a viable comparison. Where are these high school students going to get these part time jobs? Adults are out of work and some of them would be grateful for minimum wage jobs just to be able to try to support their families. If the students do not do their homework, it is my opinion that the fault lies with the parents and students, not the teachers. And truancy?? If they're not attending now, they're certainly not going to attend just because their school week is cut by one day.

The state does not put the blame on the students and parents. Our school and teachers are judged strictly by the students test scores which are a reflection of there study habits. Some teachers have stopped giving homework because they know the majority of the students won't do it. That is not the answer. How are our children supposed to compete with other schools when the other school's kids are doing much more work at school and home.
Some of Atlanta's class sizes are smaller than other schools. But most of them are equal to most other school's class sizes. My kid's junior high classes are all 30 to 33 students in each class.
Finally, I think it's quite obvious that if you only had to go 4 days, you could drag yourself out of bed for those 4 days knowing that you would get the 3 day weekend.

The Pryors wrote:

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The point has nothing to do with homework AT ALL!! the point is this plan would require elementary school kids along with the older kids to be at school by 715 am not to mention that most of these kids would need to be on the bus an hour to an hour and a half before that. were you at the board meeting? if you were you'd know that this plan has been brought up as a way to reduce the budget. she flat out said she could not find any proof this would be detrimental to our kids. i easily found the proof that this long of school day would be detrimental to them. i have no problem with them only going to school for 4 days my problem is the length of the school day for them. most adults DO NOT work as long as she proposed to have kindergarten kids going to school. other schools that did go to a 4 day week did it by only adding 5 minutes to each day not 98 minutes like this proposal. i drove to gaylord tonight to get the full study printed for each of the school board members to read.
another example with the busing problem. although it was completely unforeseeable and unavoidable this past tuesday my kids got off the bus over 40 minutes late they arrived home at 545 pm do to a another student getting sick on the bus. if this were to happen during the proposed 4 day school week my kids would have gotten home about 645 pm and other kids closer to the 8pm mark. on tuesday i started calling every number i could find for the school by the time they were a half hour late. guess what i could not get to 1 person as everyone had already left the building. I ended up calling the police to ask if there had been any accidents involving the bus. no one is at fault for the bus being late as a matter of fact the very next day one of my kids got sick on the same bus and i'm sure other families were worried about there kids getting home late. but how would you like your kids(if you have any in our school) not getting off the bus till around 7 or 8 at night?

"The point has nothing to do with homework AT ALL!!"

You were at the meeting and heard this? You might have misunderstood because part of the reason for the move to four days was to be able to do work in class and then collect the work at the end of the class period. By doing this the need for homework was being eliminated. It would show the teachers what was learned and what was missed on a daily basis. The teacher would be able to either review material or teach new material depending on the previous day’s work.

If all you got out of the meeting was to save money and go to four days I think you missed half of the discussion. It was mentioned that if only cost savings was the purpose of this plan it would be counter productive since we could not do it next year. If, however, we could show that in addition to cost savings it also improved the students test scores we would be able to apply for a waiver.

You keep stressing the length of the school day. Do you also not remember the discussion about readjusting the bus routes with possible pick up points? This was a request by the Board to get more information for the Monday meeting. You mentioned one Board member had already made up her mind to vote with the four day week. You sound as if you have already made up your mind to be totally against it without hearing more information.

Let’s see what the Monday meeting with the parents brings. Who knows what might happen with all of the information made available.

Thank Heavens there is someone here other than myself who was at the meeting and actually listened to the entire thing and not merely the parts they found objectionable. We need to explore all possible avenues it our quest to save our school system. We are only talking about doing this for ONE SEMESTER. If we don't try this alternative, we cannot make it. How about giving some actual constructive theories instead of shooting us all down before we even get off the ground? Not trying this intelligent alternative would be the most foolish thing that we could do. We all need to work together and that means we all need to make sacrifices. We need to make this work.

So your telling me that by cutting friday and making the 4 day longer hours for the kids they will have to get homework done with extra time in class.

But wait a minute, dont they now have to cram that "off" day into one or all of the 4 days ?

So really there isnt going to be any extra time for homework. I agree with the Pryors - I know Jen and her family and I completly agree and I will b talking to her about carpooling to and from the pickup dropoff point at the junction.

I say drop sports - or pay to play! other schools do it why not ATL?

Band - also pay to play - other schools do it why not ATL?

away games would either be parents responsability or just forfeit it's not like there are a lot od sports or band scholorships awarded to ATL students anyways so how do the children benifit from this? besides athletics and something to do.

Glad to see ya posted JEN as much as I'm sure ya really didnt want to!(lol)

Why don't we all show up at the board meeting Monday and listen, fine out the facts, and voice our opinion. The main problem seems to be that no one listens. We have someone tell us something and we think it is fact, when it may not be. There has been NO decision made yet, and we have a chance to hear the real story and tell them what we think. Lets get the facts and then as informed people we can better help them decide.

As was noted by mommy. If you dropped sports or band you would lose half of the high school and junior high students to other schools.
Band has a direct correllation to math ability, not sure what the cause and effect relationship is however, but I believe it is very important to many students.
Students do get many scholarships based on participating in extra curricular activities from Atlanta High School, not to mention schools look at extra curricular activities for admission. They may not be full rides but for our students, every scholarship helps. Ask them.

This will never go through. If it does, can you say RECALL?

See you at the public hearing

homework wrote:

So your telling me that by cutting friday and making the 4 day longer hours for the kids they will have to get homework done with extra time in class.
But wait a minute, dont they now have to cram that "off" day into one or all of the 4 days ?
So really there isnt going to be any extra time for homework. I agree with the Pryors - I know Jen and her family and I completly agree and I will b talking to her about carpooling to and from the pickup dropoff point at the junction.
I say drop sports - or pay to play! other schools do it why not ATL?
Band - also pay to play - other schools do it why not ATL?
away games would either be parents responsability or just forfeit it's not like there are a lot od sports or band scholorships awarded to ATL students anyways so how do the children benifit from this? besides athletics and something to do.
Glad to see ya posted JEN as much as I'm sure ya really didnt want to!(lol)

Goodness, I know her, too. How about both of you listen BETTER, pay attention to what is really being said and proposed. Jen says she was there... then how did she miss everything that was discussed regarding this idea except what she wanted to hear?
Pick up a Tribune and read it. I'm certain that the paper didn't construct the information they included from the meeting from thin air. All of the details are there, not merely the things one or two people seem to think are the important issues. Curriculum will be adjusted on a day by day basis so that it follows the progress of the students in each class. As far as sports and band, those children are the best students at Atlanta. That's because the parents of the students in Band and Sports are INVOLVED in the school in every single way, and our children are busy learning, being constructive, and exercising instead of studying the finer arts of procreation, drug use, vandelism, laziness, and learning to act and be ENTITLED. Sick to death of supporting all of you losers and picking up the slack. If you all are so hot to leave, then TOODLES!! Way to teach your children how to work in the face of adversity. Great problem solving skills you have going. I really feel sorry for the Pryor children. I can't even imagine how upset they are by their mother making such a huge deal out of this with the "going to the enemy's school" and so on. It's sad really, because she isn't even giving her children the chance to rise to the occasion and shine as the wonderful individuals they are.

Sorry folks. You can't get a waiver of State law! The minimum number of days is established in law not in some state or MDE rule. There will be no waiver for next year. It is simply not possible.

In response to John on the board
to clarify my standing against this is not about the homework, mommy had quoted me in her pointing out the homework issue, My kids (elementary age) bring homework home maybe once a week, and it takes more then 15mins to complete it there fore they would be getting less instruction on it before being given it to do in class. and my kids will still have work to do when they get home as I make them write their spelling words every night, and that would not change.
I am not against lengthening the day by even say 30-40 mins and doing a 4 day week but I think 98 mins is going to be detrimental to our kids (maybe not the older kids as much as K-6) the study I posted before the district in the UP had issues with the kids being exhausted and they were only going from 8am-4pm, I have emailed the superintendent of Stephenson area public school for a little more input, if I get a response form him I will share it with you. I also have calls in to 2 Michigan collages asking about the attention span of kids, and how much is too much for them. they were not sure that they could provide me with this info in such a short time period.
The thing that is bothering me the most is the fact that we would be expecting the kids to be in class (not counting their bus time and breakfast) 8 1/2 hours. most adults do not work that many hours and if they do they get paid overtime. then you bring up the bus issue, I have talked to a bus driver and it was said that there are very little changes to be made, only a few roads would be changed to other buses that have shorter routes now, but no changes are being made to the outer areas that spend an hour and a half plus on the bus before school and after. As for the pick up point, I addressed that on my survey that was sent home with the kids Monday, I turned it in at the start of the board meeting , on it was a suggestion of bus stops and Mrs Stauffer brought me a response letter Tuesday morning in response to it, she is concerned with liability with having stops, "if we had stops the school would either have to pay for supervisers or take responsibility of having students unsupervised" I did not quote her word for word but I have the letter if you would like to read it.(I will have it with me at Mondays meeting) this is a direct quote that she concluded the paragraph with " We would love to go back to the days of central stops, but for us it is too much of a risk to the safety of our kids."
We have been looking for other ways to try and save money for the school,(with out cutting jobs, sport or band) and we emailed Mrs. Stauffer asking for a couple of budget figures. I am not just sitting here pissed off that this option has been opened up, I have been looking into the affects it will have on my children's education, and trying to see if there are other options to cut the budget. We moved to the Atlanta area before our oldest started pre-school so they could finish school where they stared, but if they are expected to be in school for that long I will be transferring them, and it they are transferred they will not be transferred again.

Whatever wrote:

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Goodness, I know her, too. How about both of you listen BETTER, pay attention to what is really being said and proposed. Jen says she was there... then how did she miss everything that was discussed regarding this idea except what she wanted to hear?
Pick up a Tribune and read it. I'm certain that the paper didn't construct the information they included from the meeting from thin air. All of the details are there, not merely the things one or two people seem to think are the important issues. Curriculum will be adjusted on a day by day basis so that it follows the progress of the students in each class. As far as sports and band, those children are the best students at Atlanta. That's because the parents of the students in Band and Sports are INVOLVED in the school in every single way, and our children are busy learning, being constructive, and exercising instead of studying the finer arts of procreation, drug use, vandelism, laziness, and learning to act and be ENTITLED. Sick to death of supporting all of you losers and picking up the slack. If you all are so hot to leave, then TOODLES!! Way to teach your children how to work in the face of adversity. Great problem solving skills you have going. I really feel sorry for the Pryor children. I can't even imagine how upset they are by their mother making such a huge deal out of this with the "going to the enemy's school" and so on. It's sad really, because she isn't even giving her children the chance to rise to the occasion and shine as the wonderful individuals they are.

Very well put, I couldn't agree more. When I read the Pryor's previous posts, I felt terrible for those children. Their daughter was allowed to cry herself to sleep so that the parents could dissent and make a point. Threatening to send them to another school? My heart hurts for those kids. Well, I think that children are more resilient than you give them credit for. I hope they open their minds and give it a shot for the kid's sake. I think that those parents are VERY selfish.

Anamnesis wrote:

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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"

Your town is falling apart. The stores can barely stay open and are struggling to even keep the lights on. Business' are closing there and with no chance of finding a buyer to start anew. The fact that the town bars are the only thing that make any money is the reason your town is pathetic. I stopped vacationing there and sold my property before the real estate market bombed and am very thankful that I could do so because there is nothing there any more for anyone to take pride in.

Take a look around your town... nobody makes money to pay for anything which is why your school is now considering this huge change to 4 day school week.

The school in Atlanta would be considered low on the scale when it comes to education, because they do not have the resources. I am well aware of the other schools in the state of Michigan and how they are falling apart, but you people are the ones that are complaining about a change in schedule... not in the quality of your education or what resources your children have.

The fact that you were insulted at what I said is because it hit you where it hurts and you know it is fact. Stop denying what a ghost town that Atlanta has become and how much of a joke it has turned into. The sporting teams are no where near what they used to be, the quality of life that Atlanta used to have being a close knit community is over loaded with people that are too scared to leave the comforts of the woods for being part of a real society. Most people there that left and went back did it to be close to family... others did it because they were too weak to make it in the real world. If you all continue to wear blindfolds about what is happening to your town, your children will be doomed to repeat what keeps happening.

Maybe if people put more money into your school instead of the local bars... you wouldn't have so many problems. Truth hurts, I know.

IamMeUrU wrote:

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Your town is falling apart. The stores can barely stay open and are struggling to even keep the lights on. Business' are closing there and with no chance of finding a buyer to start anew. The fact that the town bars are the only thing that make any money is the reason your town is pathetic. I stopped vacationing there and sold my property before the real estate market bombed and am very thankful that I could do so because there is nothing there any more for anyone to take pride in.
Take a look around your town... nobody makes money to pay for anything which is why your school is now considering this huge change to 4 day school week.
The school in Atlanta would be considered low on the scale when it comes to education, because they do not have the resources. I am well aware of the other schools in the state of Michigan and how they are falling apart, but you people are the ones that are complaining about a change in schedule... not in the quality of your education or what resources your children have.
The fact that you were insulted at what I said is because it hit you where it hurts and you know it is fact. Stop denying what a ghost town that Atlanta has become and how much of a joke it has turned into. The sporting teams are no where near what they used to be, the quality of life that Atlanta used to have being a close knit community is over loaded with people that are too scared to leave the comforts of the woods for being part of a real society. Most people there that left and went back did it to be close to family... others did it because they were too weak to make it in the real world. If you all continue to wear blindfolds about what is happening to your town, your children will be doomed to repeat what keeps happening.
Maybe if people put more money into your school instead of the local bars... you wouldn't have so many problems. Truth hurts, I know.

sad but true

IamMeUrU wrote:

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Your town is falling apart. The stores can barely stay open and are struggling to even keep the lights on. Business' are closing there and with no chance of finding a buyer to start anew. The fact that the town bars are the only thing that make any money is the reason your town is pathetic. I stopped vacationing there and sold my property before the real estate market bombed and am very thankful that I could do so because there is nothing there any more for anyone to take pride in.
Take a look around your town... nobody makes money to pay for anything which is why your school is now considering this huge change to 4 day school week.
The school in Atlanta would be considered low on the scale when it comes to education, because they do not have the resources. I am well aware of the other schools in the state of Michigan and how they are falling apart, but you people are the ones that are complaining about a change in schedule... not in the quality of your education or what resources your children have.
The fact that you were insulted at what I said is because it hit you where it hurts and you know it is fact. Stop denying what a ghost town that Atlanta has become and how much of a joke it has turned into. The sporting teams are no where near what they used to be, the quality of life that Atlanta used to have being a close knit community is over loaded with people that are too scared to leave the comforts of the woods for being part of a real society. Most people there that left and went back did it to be close to family... others did it because they were too weak to make it in the real world. If you all continue to wear blindfolds about what is happening to your town, your children will be doomed to repeat what keeps happening.
Maybe if people put more money into your school instead of the local bars... you wouldn't have so many problems. Truth hurts, I know.

The reason that Atlanta, as well as the majority of the school districts in Michigan, are having financial problems is the State government. Since the sales tax was raised to 6% the funding of the schools comes from Lansing. As a result the State makes mandates that are unfunded. The State also cut the per pupil funding, last year, this year and next year, to stick the money into the general fund to keep funding give away programs in Detroit.

As for the bars being the only ones making any money, they are also the ones, along with other businesses and non-residents that are paying more for school taxes. What seems to be your problem with bars? If you took all of the tax revenue the State gets from bars and eliminated it you would be very surprised. The only ones really making any money are the churches, which are tax exempt, and still get involved in the politics of education.

If you really knew what you were talking about you would understand that this proposal is geared primarily toward improving the education of the kids. New programs are being included, such as joint enrollment with ACC. The cost savings is only needed because the State is cutting the funding for the next two years.

As for the quality of sports you can thank our great government in not permitting teachers, coaches and even parents, to discipline the kids. With no discipline your results decline in many areas including accademics, athletics and even citizenship.

Get a grip wrote:

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The reason that Atlanta, as well as the majority of the school districts in Michigan, are having financial problems is the State government. Since the sales tax was raised to 6% the funding of the schools comes from Lansing. As a result the State makes mandates that are unfunded. The State also cut the per pupil funding, last year, this year and next year, to stick the money into the general fund to keep funding give away programs in Detroit.
As for the bars being the only ones making any money, they are also the ones, along with other businesses and non-residents that are paying more for school taxes. What seems to be your problem with bars? If you took all of the tax revenue the State gets from bars and eliminated it you would be very surprised. The only ones really making any money are the churches, which are tax exempt, and still get involved in the politics of education.
If you really knew what you were talking about you would understand that this proposal is geared primarily toward improving the education of the kids. New programs are being included, such as joint enrollment with ACC. The cost savings is only needed because the State is cutting the funding for the next two years.
As for the quality of sports you can thank our great government in not permitting teachers, coaches and even parents, to discipline the kids. With no discipline your results decline in many areas including accademics, athletics and even citizenship.

All great points Get a. Not to put too fine a point on it, but I would submit that the parents are the primary responsibility for discipline. If they send a child to school that is not prepared to learn and is thus disrupitive to the process, they bear the onus. If a child is sent to school hungry, unwashed, dressed in goofy looking clothing, unprepared with homework not done, they should be held responsibile. If they do not exercise their responsibility in the home to teach their children that life is not fair and is full of pitfalls that everyone has to deal with in some form, they are responsibile. When teachers and administrators, our employees, have to take time out to deal with the "problem children", they are taking the focus off their main responsibility.

If the State is going to disallow schools from going to four day weeks next year then that means the State does not think it is a good program for the children. So why is Atlanta trying to sneak in under the wire? It is all about money not what is best for the kids. It won't matter how many parents show up for the board meeting because they will be voting the same night and the board members have already made their decision. They hand picked Mrs. Stauffer and agree with everything she does no questions asked. Right Get A Grip?

State wrote:

If the State is going to disallow schools from going to four day weeks next year then that means the State does not think it is a good program for the children. So why is Atlanta trying to sneak in under the wire? It is all about money not what is best for the kids. It won't matter how many parents show up for the board meeting because they will be voting the same night and the board members have already made their decision. They hand picked Mrs. Stauffer and agree with everything she does no questions asked. Right Get A Grip?

The Board selected Mrs. Stauffer, that is right. They do not agree with everything she does, and there are many questions asked, so that part is wrong.

The legislature voted last October to list the number of days of attendence for the first time. It has always been a minimum number of hours of instruction in the past. Why they went to 160 days I do not know. Perhaps they were mind readers and knew school districts would try new things after they took back money from the districts which had already been budgeted and spent.

If everything the legislature did was right the State would not be in the financial dificulty it is in. We would not be 50th in the nation in our economy. We would not be looking to tax ourselves into prosperity. People would not be moving to other states to find jobs. The drop out rate in Detroit would not be 50%+.

In my opinion the local districts can run their schools better than some beurocrats in Lansing who give $7300 to one district,$9300 (or more) to another district and then take away $169 from both of them and consider it fair treatment. At this rate the northern districts will be owing money to the State to give to the wealthier districts in the southeast.

Get a grip wrote:

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The legislature voted last October to list the number of days of attendence for the first time. It has always been a minimum number of hours of instruction in the past. Why they went to 160 days I do not know.

This is a completely false statement, it was just 6 years ago that the legislators vote to change the law from number of days (180) to the number of hours(1098) required. which Atlanta did not even meet the law last year and only had 1047 hours. according to the school daze report I have linked above. It was just October that they have voted to change back to 180 day instead of hours required. If you remember back 6 years ago Atlanta District started not using half days because of this change.