The Kent School Board is considering a plan to put partial days into the school year. This plan would shorten up to 30 school days in order to carve out more time for “teacher collaboration.” It’s yet another instance where students and parents are being unfairly shortchanged to accommodate adult interests.
Proponents of the plan argue that teacher collaboration improves the quality of education students receive. So far, they haven’t explained why student schedules must be disrupted to accommodate more teacher collaboration.
The short answer? They don’t have to be.
The Kent School Board has a track record of using levy funds to pay employees for the activities it prioritizes. A closer look at the directors’ contract with employees shows that teacher collaboration isn’t among them.
Instead, levy funds compensate employees for things that have nothing to do with students or the quality of their education. Kent teachers receive a 5-percent wage enhancement for work on non-student activities that are performed unsupervised and at the teachers’ discretion. Furthermore, levy funds are used for wage enhancements related to teachers’ age, credentials, administration-specified activities like open houses, and merely for more pay.
In total, the Kent School District’s levy-funded wage enhancements average nearly $9,000 per employee.
This new idea of shortening school days ends up being another benefit to employees, who get paid the same or more for a more convenient schedule. Tasks and responsibilities formerly handled at the edges of the intact student learning schedule can now be handled during the day.
The union officials and proponents claim they have no choice but to carve out a portion of the student schedule for collaboration, district activities, training and more self-directed employee time.
But if students’ learning really is the highest priority, why not trade other wage bonuses—such as those for age and credentials—and instead use those levy funds to pay for teacher collaboration outside of student schedules?
The Lake Washington School District, for example, requires employees to work eight entire “Learning Enhancement/Academic Planning” days beyond the 180 student instructional days.
If school directors choose to disrupt the student learning routines for the proposed schedule, I believe they do a great injustice to students, families and taxpayers.
While research has not been conducted about the effects of a jumbled schedule, research does clearly find that shortening time — even a little—impacts student learning. Anecdotally, we all hear or remember how a partial school day is a wasted day. Why would anyone risk student learning over a new, experimental practice which could be avoided?
The inefficiency of short days also cannot be ignored. Bussing, heating, feeding, bringing in all classified staff and a host of other fixed costs are still paid for a short day.
Let’s not forget the inconvenience these partial school days would place on families. This plan proposes 30 two-hour late start days over the course of the school year, requiring working parents to rearrange their own schedules, find alternative childcare or leave children unattended.
In an era when the challenge of schooling is greater and factors are crowding out learning time, it makes no sense to take any actions that reduce services to students. That’s especially true when an alternative solution exists: the current distribution of levy funds could be re-prioritized to pay for teacher collaboration that doesn’t disrupt students’ classroom time.
Encourage the school directors in Kent to find a way to keep students’ needs as the highest priority in setting the schedule, directing staff and spending levy funds.
Jami Lund is a senior education policy Analyst for the Freedom Foundation, a free-market think tank in Olympia. He earned a master’s degree in public policy and administration from Western Washington University, and served as an education policy analyst for the state House of Representatives, Republican Caucus from 2005-11. He can be reached at jlund@myfreedomfoundation.org.
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