By Khalida Sarwari
Elementary and middle school students in Saratoga will be dismissed early from school every Wednesday following a district-wide schedule change that has riled many parents.
The new schedule, which went into effect at the beginning of the school year in August, has every Wednesday as a minimum day. This means that students at Redwood Middle School will be released at 12:45 p.m. and those in the elementary schools at 12:30 p.m.
According to the district, the change was made to allow staff and faculty time for professional development training. But parents claim the increased professional development time will come at the expense of instructional time for students.
What’s more, the schedule decision was made by the district administration and approved by the school board in June and parents weren’t given an opportunity to vote on the change, according to Rishi Kumar, a Saratoga community leader.
An unofficial study done by a parent in the district estimates that Redwood students will be in class about 700 minutes less during the year. The number of minimum days will jump from 14 days last year to 35 scheduled this year. Previously, minimum days took place on the first Thursday of every month.
Kumar, whose son attends the eighth grade at Redwood, said parents have numerous concerns, chief among them the impact that a shortened day every week will have on student learning. He said students will have all seven periods on Wednesdays, but classes will be shortened to about 32 minutes each in order to finish by 12:45. He and others believe this is not adequate time for most art projects, science labs, physical education activities and in-depth discussions.
“We are a high academic school district,” Kumar said. “There is a high level of expectation parents have. Folks are concerned that this will directly have an impact on child learning on Wednesdays.”
In the case of many students, both parents work, so there are also concerns about student safety, Kumar noted. With the increased frequency of minimum days, kids will have to regularly rely on other resources–some possibly negative–to pass the time while they wait to get picked up from school.
Kumar and other concerned parents are encouraging supporters to sign a petition calling for a reversion to last year’s schedule. By the end of August, the petition had more than 200 signatures. The petition can be found at change.org/petitions/stop-early-dismissal.
The parents are also encouraging the community to consider attending a special school board meeting on Sept. 4. The district is holding the meeting to review the factors and rationale for the schedule change and allow parents, staff and the general community to express their viewpoints. However, no action will be taken at the meeting.
The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. in the Redwood Middle School library.
“We truly believe that Lane Weiss and the board and the parents want academic excellence,” said Kumar. “The stance of the parents is, let’s try to revert the change so we can have an opportunity to have a dialogue and make the right change for our school district that aligns with the charter of academic excellence.”
