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Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2008 > February > 15 > Entry
Dayton expected to shorten spring break
Dayton Public Schools appears likely to shorten its spring break to make up for days lost to inclement weather.
The district is set to begin a two-week spring break on March 24. District spokeswoman Jill Moberley said the board is considering shortening that break.
Teachers’ union President Pat Lynch said this is not surprise to teachers. She said she had discussions with Superintendent Percy Mack about shortening spring break in August after heat forced school to close for five days, using up all of the district’s pre-planned calamity days.
Lynch said she alerted teachers in an e-mail at that time that it was likely the second week of spring break would be shortened and to adjust their vacation plans. Lynch said she expects the district to be in school on April 3 and 4 while adding one additional day to the end of the calendar in June to make up for three calamity days Dayton has used for inclement winter weather. In all, Dayton has been off eight days this year for bad weather.
The spring break plan, Lynch said, will give teachers more instructional days when they matter — before elementary school students take state tests in May.
“It made sense to me to make it up before the test,” she said. “To make it all up in June wastes everbody’s time. I’ve been in the classroom with kids in June. You are not getting back instructional time you need before the test.”
The board could act to make the calendar change as early as Tuesday’s meeting.
Permalink | Comments (23) | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
Comments
By Asia
February 29, 2008 8:07 PM | Link to this
I am a student a thurgood marshall and i believe that we should not get a one week break just because the weather was bad. DPS act like we deserve to be in school another week. i say it’s wrong and at the end of the year we got to stay one more day.the sudents at dps are trying there hardest and we only get one week for break. i think students want to free from school because what is the point i mean barly have sports. i mean come on football and basketball they could have cut those. they cuted the best teachers and now we dont get to do anything school is suppost to be fun if the teachers and the princle would loose in up then kids would want to go to school.everybody hates school easpecially {thurgood marshall} because the princle so mean and we do nothing we cant eat or drink in classrooms. we cant even have dances of anything fun matter of fact.we only got 2 sports and i wish they had more but they dont.i wish they would do a story about this problem that the students have they never listen to the students it’s about what the sudents need in order to have fun at school and learn at the same time.By Laura
February 20, 2008 8:48 PM | Link to this
Well, for not the first time this year, DPS was open for school today when nearly every other nearby district closed. Those of you who complain that DPS closes at the drop of a hat are remembering days gone by. In the last few years, I have gone to school on several days when my son was home because of the weather. In fact, I have gone to school when my husband had a delay at the base. DPS needs to reconsider issuing delays with the option to close as other districts do, or at least let the parents, staff and community know the real reason they don’t. Saying they can’t work out a schedule doesn’t speak highly of their transportation department’s ability.By Barb
February 20, 2008 5:55 PM | Link to this
It takes a village to raise a child. The business community can provide their talents to direct a school board who is lost. They could help a treasurer balance the budget in a manner that will not affect students. Business could provide tutors and individuals to mentor students who have no help at home. They could provide incentives to the schools perhaps fund field trips, and activities that our students are never exposed to. We have had business step up and donate a lot of materials to students and I would assume they feel unappreciated when students and parents expect them to do these things. We have a lot of expertise in Dayton who can step up better business practices, get rid of costly administrators and cut cost in general. There are business firms that can step up and ask the really tough questions, they are not looking to keep people just because they know someone or have a friend here or there.By School Supporter (Classic)
February 20, 2008 5:39 PM | Link to this
Hi, Lou, The NEA has many agendas going on (legislation, litigagion, political endorsements, etc.). In many ways, it’s not been pretty (consider the Paige/Baptist Press incident, the “terrorist” incident, and the allegation that OEA deliberately weakened the Ohio PTA). I don’t want to revisit that, but I’d like ground rules (rules of engagement) as a first step for a business/district collaboration. The DEA would be the most important contributor to those groundrules, since we’ll need access to teachers (or at least real teacher input/feedback)—even better if an NEA affiliate has already done something similar. BTW, I’m not assuming Littlejohn was right, I’m actually rather annoyed that she “cited failure to work well with the union.” I thought good relationships with teachers would be a priority.By lou
February 20, 2008 4:15 PM | Link to this
School supporter. I am a member of the DEA and I am sure that our leadership would be more than willing to work with the businesses of Dayton. Why do you assume that it wa the union not working with Littlejohn? the way i see it from where I am sitting is that we did support her and the Kids First team. We even helped get them elected. We gave and gave and gave and they took and took and took. We have nothing else to give. No time, No money, No respect. That is what Littlejohn left the DPS teachers with.By dirk sniggler
February 20, 2008 7:36 AM | Link to this
If any of our elected board members would like to be elected for a second-term, all they need to do is change the DPS schedule to a traditional calendar.By School Supporter (Classic)
February 20, 2008 2:09 AM | Link to this
Barb, you seem to be making the point that the PTA function is broken and the business community needs to step in to bridge the gap. That just might work, but we’ve been down that road to the extent of supporting Littlejohn & Co. What went wrong? Is there a role for more fact-finding by the business community, rather than supporting board member campaigns but otherwise keeping hands off? Littlejohn cited failure to work well with the union when she left. Can DEA/OEA/NEA provide some guidance for how the business community might help the board? I don’t see how the business community can provide the necessary assistance without union cooperation.By Barb
February 19, 2008 7:30 AM | Link to this
School Supporter I would think the students and the community are the ones with the most to lose. In many other districts when things go so far off balance the parents are the ones to yell loudly. We are unfortunately in a situation where that will not happen so we need the community to step up to the plate. These children will become adults in this community. They are our future gang leaders, doctors, lawyers, mayors. Which jobs do you think many of these students will excel.By Avoice
February 18, 2008 11:49 PM | Link to this
Once again Barb has it correct. Scott, have you noticed that some teachers that write in this blog actually have first-hand knowledge of the DPS system and can tell you what is really going on in the system? Instead of blindly accepting Jill and Percy and company perhaps it is time for a little investigative journalism. I wish that the DDN had the time and manpower to take a very close look at DPS from the time of the 1980�s through the current administration. Not all urban schools have had this marked decline. From Smith through Mack the professional staff at DPS has seen such poor performance from our leaders that we often wonder what we are doing here. Good teachers know what we are doing at the school; we see it every day in the faces of our students. We don�t need the multiple levels of secretaries, curriculum specialists, associate and assistants to assistants and security at Ludlow. We do not need associate and assistant superintendents and department directors that treat teachers like scum. After all, I thought that we were in this together? We need books, chairs, paper, supplies and support staff that truly cares about the student, not their next job. We need student records that follow the new student when they show up at our door. (How often has that happened to you, Dayton Teachers, too often I bet!) We need board members that really look at staffing and student needs. We need a board that spends time with teachers working with students in the buildings. We do not need a board that blindly accepts the superintendents� recommendations as was done last spring. DPS professional staff deserved better. DPS students need and deserve the best, not this mess.By School Supporter (Classic)
February 18, 2008 11:22 PM | Link to this
Barb writes, “To fix something you first must identify the real problems. There are a lot of people waiting for that to happen.” Isn’t there a role for DEA in identifying (or at least communicating) real problems? Aren’t the teachers represented by DEA the folks with the most to lose if DPS doesn’t get fixed?By Concerned Mom of 3
February 18, 2008 8:56 PM | Link to this
My children will atttend school whenever the district chooses to make up the days- Because I care about their education, and I accept my responsibility to get them to school when it is scheduled. Somebody should take a good hard look at the attendance data before making any decisions about when to make up the calamity days… They should look at attendance during five day weeks, four day weeks, three day weeks, etc. and they should look at the attendance data immediately preceeding breaks. The data may show something.By charterschoolhater
February 18, 2008 7:36 PM | Link to this
In reply to Edy. School Officials are supposed to be smarter than fifth graders. That is not the case in the Dayton Schools. Most Dayton Administrators could not work in any other school district in America. That is why they are here. Most of the Board Members could not run a 2 person business let alone an entire school district. What is so frustrating is the administrators are here for a paycheck and could really care less about the children. Board Members have their own agendas and the children are not even on it. Such is the status quo in Dayton Schools. Until drastic change is shown. I vote NO on all future levies. One thing they have accomplished is they have built some buildings. What does that have to do with educating children? If you can answer that truthfully then you are smarter than me. I guess when you so poorly educate people, you have to come up with a smoke screen to cover your incompetence, enter building new schools. it is time for Mack and Co to go. Are you listening board members? I think not. They think he is wonderful!! What blinder they haveBy Barb
February 18, 2008 11:41 AM | Link to this
As long as the business community and the government community tolerates it DPS will be allowed to run their own agenda without thought to how this is affecting students or the Dayton community at large. There are administrators who spend their time applying for new jobs with their agenda to make themselves look better on a resume. Business and government then scratch their heads and say what went wrong. As long as they just take a peek in occasionally they can not see what really goes on and then later they can say “I told you so.” I have to wonder when people are really going to start to help the children, our future. Isn’t it time to place the blame on the people who are making bad decisions on a daily basis? We know board members read the blogs and comment when it suits their purposes what if effort were really put in to fix this. To fix something you first must identify the real problems. There are a lot of people waiting for that to happen.By DPS TEACHER
February 18, 2008 12:31 AM | Link to this
DAYTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS’ BOARD HAVE ALREADY SET THE 2008-2009 SCHOOL CALENDAR. DPS TEACHERS START THE WORK CLAENDAR ON AUG.6, 2008 AND STUDENTS START SCHOOL AUG. 11, 2008. IS THIS A REPEAT OF THIS YEAR’S OVER THE ALLOWED SNOW AND HEAT DAYS?(THERE ARE STILL DPS SCHOOLS WITH NO AIR IN AUGUST,SEPTEMBER.)WILL DPS TEACHERS AND STUDENTS HAVE A SOLID 2 WEEKS SPRING BREAK NEXT YEAR???I DON’T THINK SO….SO WHAT’S WITH THIS SO CALL DPS UNIFIED SCHOOL CALENDAR? WHO IS IT BENEFITING???ALSO,JUST A THOUGHT HOW MANY MORE LAY OFFS THIS SCHOOL YEAR. THE CUTS THIS YEAR HAVE REALLY AFFECTED THE STAFFS AND STUDENTS IN ALL THE DPS BUILDINGS AND CLASSROOMS.By painfultruth
February 16, 2008 6:30 PM | Link to this
With the overall quality of education coming from the DPs with its near 40% dropout rate, does this even matter? As they call school off anytime Channel 7 predicts anything but sunny and 80 degrees to please all the politically correct sissies in the district, who cares? The DPS is about as as successful at educating as a steamroller is to changing diapers! The board members are typical government employees that couldn’t find gainful employment within the private sector, so they run back to Mama Government to feed off the socialistic trough. These people couldn’t find a thumb on their hand, let alone be able to figure out complex subtraction of the number 5. Give me a break!By Laura
February 16, 2008 5:23 PM | Link to this
Concerned Mom: I don’t think it will make any difference to the majority of DPS parents/students whether we make up the days during spring break or at the end of the year. I do know that attendance for the last few days of any year falls dramatically. There have been years when I have had as few as 5 children show up on the last day of school. I vote for going back early during spring break solely for the reason stated by Pat Lynch of having the instructional time before the OAT and not in June when everyone has basically “quit”. My personal opinion is that we should return to two schedules until all buildings are equipped with air conditioning, then it would be much less likely that this situation would repeat itself.By mo
February 16, 2008 4:41 PM | Link to this
Starting school in the first week of August was simply a bad idea off the rip(Remember, you still have old schools with no ac). If you still have a traditional school calendar, start on the last week of August, or after Labor Day like everyone else. Calamity days were not spent on the heat, but a bad idea.By Barb
February 16, 2008 4:32 PM | Link to this
What would be even better is if the DPS administration could admit that they had made a mistake with this idea. Look back at attendance last August. Many schools lost any AYP chance for attendance in the first month of school. How about attendance on days other schools had 2 hour delays? There must be someone who could rethink the situation with the bus schedule now. Of course again it might require some out of the box thinking. I can only hope with new people on the BoE they really start to look and ask the hard questions. That is how this district will make changes.By Concerned Mom of 3
February 16, 2008 12:07 PM | Link to this
I think the DPS administration should make the decision when to make up the calamity days based on student attendance statistics. Because the attendance statistics factor into the State’s evaluation of the district… (I suspect that the attendance on any make up day will be significantly lower than on a normally scheduled day because the parents in Dayton don’t accept the responsibility to get the kids to school like parents in suburban districts might.) Anyway- the quesiton is not a question of year round education versus traditional… the question should be “When is the disrict more likly to have better attendance- during a spring break or during a summer break?” It is a tough call, but I bet there is statitical data somewhere that would support one way versus the other way. I personally would prefer to add the days on to the end of the year. I think it would extend the regular rouine of status quo- and I think the attendance might be better. The teachers may not like this idea, but it might be better for the kids.By Barb
February 16, 2008 11:10 AM | Link to this
Wasn’t the year round schedule put into effect when the OAT was given earlier in the year? Now it has no value in the elementary level buildings because students have the same amount of days no matter how they schedule. It might affect the High Schools but perhaps it is time for DPS to think outside the box. Different schedules for different levels or schools, choices. Has anyone even tried to get the extra calamity days?By the obvious
February 16, 2008 9:58 AM | Link to this
I’ve read in this blog that there is no conclusive educational research that shows any benefit for starting a month early. As a DPS teacher working in a building without air conditioning, I can attest to much harm in starting in August. Just imagine a classroom with 27 sixth graders, no shades (broken and never repaired) and no air conditioning on a normal 90 degree day in Dayton. Add in the factors of asthma and the wide array of bad conditions in the buildings with holes in the ceilings and old carpet and more. In my building, none of the water fountains work in our wing. I still do not understand why we have even attempted this schedule before all the students are moved to modern buildings. What possible benefit is there to starting school in August?By Wanda
February 15, 2008 6:34 PM | Link to this
The number of calamity days are granted to all schools and school districts via the state. In usuual circumstances the state with intervene and grant districts in the state additional time due to inclement during winter months.By Edy
February 15, 2008 4:36 PM | Link to this
If you are going to have school all year round you must have more than 5 calamity days. Automatically shorten the breaks by 2 or 3 days and give the district 10 calamity days. If they don’t get used you are still ahead. If you have days left over have a district wide field day at the end of the year if you think the poor kids are being gipped. I thought school officials were supposed to be smarter than a fifth grader!!