I don't think most of the community is aware of what is going on. McGees is trying to move from a traditional calendar to a "modified" year round calendar. There was a meeting at the school last night and only 20 parents showed up. School would start in July and every 9 weeks there would be a two week break. The first break would be intercession which would be 4 hours each day for kids that need extra help....there are more details but they want this to pass and start THIS JULY. They site less teacher burnout and greater student retention of learned material but could site no figures to prove this. It seems rushed...they teachers have already voted yes and we parents have got to speak up. It almost seems hush-hush as so many people have no clue...what about the parents of incoming kindergarteners? They were not even invited to the meetings! Two schools do this calendar but our principal could not/would not give numbers to show how they have improved school and student scores. In my opinion, this is going to cost us more money, esp for parents with children in daycare. Not to mention..forget your summer family vacations. Please pass this information on as our input is so very important. Surveys will be sent home in the next few weeks and if a majority of parents vote yes, it starts THIS JULY. The next meeting is March 10th at 7pm at the school.
I went to the meeting at MCES last night, as well. I think there were far more than 20 parents there. Maybe not the turnout I had expected, but I would say 40ish people there, at least. I don't think the effort is necessarily hush-hush, but it certainly IS rushed and pushed along at a much more rapid rate than gives us time to consider and plan ahead. As to the money issue, if you pay for childcare for 10 weeks in the summer, the cost will be the same as if you pay for 7 weeks in the summer and then three other weeks spread out (one after each quarter) as is proposed by the "enhancement" schedule. I'm not in favor of the new schedule proposal at this point, but I guess it's important for both sides to consider facts before making a decision that seems right for their family. There's a HUGE thread about the new school schedule change proposal already. Some interesting points made there that aren't exclusive to only MCES, but all of the elementary schools in Johnston Co.
