Parents of current Martin Murphy Middle School seventh graders
got quite a shock while registering their students for eighth grade
recently: Staff members told them, quite matter-of-factly, in a
it
’s-a-done-deal-there’s-no-question-it’s-happening manner, that
the school day would be one hour per day shorter at the school for
the 2004-2005 school year.
Parents of current Martin Murphy Middle School seventh graders got quite a shock while registering their students for eighth grade recently: Staff members told them, quite matter-of-factly, in a it’s-a-done-deal-there’s-no-question-it’s-happening manner, that the school day would be one hour per day shorter at the school for the 2004-2005 school year.
That’s 180 hours a year – and parents were understandably shocked. So are we. The reason for the change, parents were told, is that when ninth graders leave middle schools for Sobrato and Live Oak high schools next fall, the district’s two middle schools will revert to the state-mandated minimum of 54,000 minutes per year for students in grades four through eight, rather than delivering the 64,800 minutes required for students in grades nine through 12.
Officials later backtracked and said that the decision to shorten the school day would have to be made by trustees, not teachers. They’ve also lowered the target number of minutes to lose each school day from 60 to 46.The mishandling of this situation is yet another example of the poor communication between Morgan Hill School District administrators, teachers and parents.
But the most important point is that the district should not be giving away any middle school minutes. We don’t think that the achievement of students at Live Oak High School – as demonstrated by the appalling statistics the Education Specifications committee recently spotlighted for the Board of Education – justify taking away classroom time from our middle school students.
We’re disappointed that no one in the district – from principals to union leaders to teachers – is speaking up for our middle school students. No one is saying that our students need more, not less, time in the classroom. So we’ll speak for the students.
A culture and schedule are in place for a six-hour, 45-minute day at MHSD’s middle schools – a schedule comparable to most private schools, we note. It should not be squandered. Rather than throw away 45 to 60 precious classroom minutes for our middle school students, we suggest a compromise: Shorten classroom time by 30 minutes, and have teachers use 30 minutes each day for collaboration, communication and professional development.
The district’s Education Specifications committee noted that all successful high schools they studied have time built into their schedules for just those purposes. Let’s begin to value teacher collaboration and let’s use this opportunity presented by the changes to our middle schools to demonstrate its importance.
And then, as teacher contract negotiations approach in two short months, let’s get it in place for elementary and high school teachers as well.
Let’s not squander the culture or classroom minutes already in place in our middle schools. The only reasonable trade to make for middle school classroom minutes is teacher collaboration time.
