Robin Janotta
News Editor
Mira Costa Principal Ben Dale proposed a scheduling change that would give teachers an extra hour per week for prep time.
Dale’s plan would make 24 Mondays of the 2012-2013 school into 9 o’ clock late start days, with the extra hour used by teachers to plan class time. This is a change from past school years, which had a total of 12 late starts of both single and double.
To compensate for the lost time, one minute will be added to each period, lengthening the school day by 6 minutes. The school day will begin earlier rather than end one minute later.
“If we end the day at 3:01, more than half the teachers will refuse the plan. It’s a psychological thing, so we’ll start the day earlier to end before that,” Dale said.
In addition, all other late starts will be taken out other than the Mondays. These late starts will only be single late start, and zero period students will still have to attend their classes. Dale hopes to have food or activities for these students in the library. However, the plan is still is only a proposal at the moment.
“Right now, we’re in the ‘talking-about-it’ phase. I just don’t want teachers to complain to me next year that they don’t have enough planning time when they had this decision,” Dale said.
Hmmm. Seems a bit confusing. Sounds like it’s more for the teacher’s benefit than the students. I’d like to see school start later every day. So many studies show that our kids function better and are more alert later rather than earlier. Better test scores too. I’d really like to see this proposal instead.