Whitnall gets a later start, but that's not what concerned most

Greenfield - Whitnall High School starting at 7:45 a.m. instead of 7:15 a.m. made no waves at Monday's Whitnall School Board meeting, but letting elementary students out early every Wednesday so that teachers can collaborate did.

The measure passed on a narrow 4-3 margin, due mostly to concerns of early dismissal and that fact that the district has yet to nail down child-care options it can offer parents.

The new schedule includes the half-hour later start at the high school, dismissing students an hour early at the elementary schools on Wednesdays and starting an hour later at the high and middle schools every other Wednesday.

The later start at Whitnall beginning this fall will mean that clubs that usually meet after school will meet before school, said Principal Anthony Brazouski. Also, the shift will open up 45 minutes in the mornings for students to speak with teachers, use the weight room, the academic support center and the library, all of which will be available at 7 a.m., he said.

The later start will not affect athletics at all, he said.

Time to collaborate

The four board members voting for it were Nancy Zaborowski, Suzette Larson, T.J. Anderson and Bernard Shaw.

"We need this to move forward," Anderson said of the collaboration the teachers will gain late in the day.

The need for teachers working together will be even more urgent next year because they will start a fundamental shift in how they teach, said Superintendent of Schools Lowell Holtz. That shift is necessitated by the entire state switching over to common core standards, he added.

Those new standards concentrate on facts as related to real life, rather than the traditional straight factual approach, Holtz said. While supporting the common core standards, Holtz said they come with new tests and will require teachers to rewrite tests based on them.

The collaboration time will enable teachers to do that, to prepare for the changes in state requirements and to develop educational strategies to enhance personalized education for all students, Holtz said.

Acting too quickly?

The three voting against the schedule changes were Bill Osterndorf, Michael Clarizio and Stephanie Richter.

"There is a lot of value in collaboration, but structurally, it came down too fast to know what the right answers are," Osterndorf said.

For example, he said, he would like to know if taking half days once in a while for elementary collaboration would be better than an hour every Wednesday, or if the early release day should be Tuesday or Wednesday.

"I'd be interested in hearing from parents on those differentials," he said, adding he was not ready to support the proposal.

And although the late starts for the high and middle schools and early release for the elementary schools wouldn't cost the schools anything, it could well introduce more cost to elementary parents, something he wanted to learn more about, he said.

Seeking options

Clarizio said in conversations with 20 parents, 18 opposed it because no one would be home on those early release days. Knowing what kind of options those parents would have would help a lot, he said.

Free child-care options and other reduced-price options are in the works, said Edgerton Elementary School Principal Chris D'Acquisto, who is heading the effort.

The free option would probably involve aides who will be in school anyway, he said. The reduced price options could be the YMCA, the Greenfield Recreation Department or organizations conducting activities at the school at a reduced cost to parents.

"This is a big change for our parents," said Larson, who suggested the district subsidize the reduced-price options for the first year and withdraw funding gradually.

"That's something that's very do-able," Holtz said.

Larson also suggested using the late bus, which normally takes elementary children home from after-school activities, to take them home at the normal hour if nobody is home for the early release. D'Acquisto said after the meeting he will explore how much it would be used.