In the first 13 weeks of school, the elementary kids had only 3 weeks that were 5 days long. If they didn't work on Goals at the beginning of the year, what was happening? Also, instead of a random Tuesday afternoon, can these days be placed on days that people are more likely to miss work/school, like the Wednesday before Thanksgiving or the Friday before Columbus day. The lack of a consistent schedule creates havoc on working families.

In almost any other field employees are asked and expected to put in extra time to learn new processes and procedures. Teachers, however, always need to fit training into their scheduled work day. This is the result of over-powerful unions that prioritize their interests over that of the people they serve.
Why can't the school board ask the teachers to come in on a Saturday morning or stay late a few afternoons? It is more fair to inconvenience a few teachers than hundreds of famies?

This is ridiculous. From the start of school on August 29 through the end of December (17 weeks), the students only had 4 weeks of school where they actually went all 5 days. This is extremely disruptive - how are kids supposed to gain momentum academically with all these interruptions? Granted, some of the days off included school closures due to weather or regular holidays, but really - enough is enough. I've also noticed that the number of these mysterious half days for "training" has been steadily increasing over the years. Half days are counted as "full school days" by the state, and go toward fulfilling the 180 days that schools must be in session. In the end, the students end up paying the price for such a disjointed learning environment. Totally agree with Steve - the unions are a major problem, and their focus is much less on education, but on protecting - and growing - their own interests.

I really like Jessica's suggestion about scheduling the half-days when kids are most likely to miss - or when parents are more able to leave work early. And many school employees are parents, as well - they have the same issues we do! A simple check of the daily attendance report would give some guidance.

I agree that there seem to be "too many" weeks that aren't 5 full days, for one reason or another. We do follow the education rules, however - we're not in breach of the 180 requirement. Looking at the calendar, there is one 1/2 day each month for teacher development, but the rest of the days off are a government holiday issue - it's not anything our school system can change. I dislike union rules as much as anyone else, but in this case, I don't see any connection.

As far as teacher development is concerned, I sincerely doubt they're sitting around eating bon bons! And I'm sure the schools would be happy to share the programs they run during those 4 hours/month - from teacher team goals to new teaching methods to new state requirements, to sharing presentations on successful techniques...there is probably an overflowing agenda! Why not ask your child's teacher? I've found they're always happy to answer questions.

Amy makes me aware of something I did not know previously -- 1 half day per month for teacher development. If there are only 18-20 days of school per month, this could represent over 5% of the total time that students should be in school learning!

Wow! When I was in school, which was in the 90s (not yet considered the stone ages), there was 1 half day per year. What happened??

Remember that for each of these hours one parent (or one half -- or more -- of the employed/working portion of the family) is not out making money. This means less economic productivity for the greater community, to include less tax revenue, and a diminished ability to keep supporting the ever increasing property tax in Westborough. Not to mention that time lost to students who would otherwise be in school learning.

I'm all for teacher development, can't that happen for an hour one day per week after the kids are dismissed from school? Would still be done by 4:30 or 5:00?

Adding another half day to a school year that has only seen about 4 or 5 full (5-days) weeks of school is ridiculous. If more planning is needed, then why can't it be scheduled at a time after school or on a weekend day? When work needs to be done at my place employment, people stay late and get it done.

Days off and half days are disruptive to the flow of learning. Ask any child what gets accomplished on a half day of school and they will tell you not much of anything.

I urge the School Committee to think about the students and families of Westborough and find another solution.

Enough already 1/2 days and short weeks are disruptive to everone and, most importantly, to the learning process. Many districts have faculty return a week before students to avoid 1/2 days. Also, the kids are losing out here as they are required to be in school 180(?) days and these 1/2 days count towards that when they really should not. The kids do very little in school on these 1/2 days....

Ridiculous. Our training days go 10 - 12 hours, often at night or over the weekends. How about putting in a long day like the rest of the world instead of a half day? You still get 25% of the year off.

I really hope Mrs. O'Connor and the members of the school committee are monitoring these comments. We keep hearing that longer school days are beneficial to students but every time we turn around, these kids have a holiday or a half day. Professional development and training should be scheduled after school or on weekends so it doesn’t interfere with the primary goal: educating children. In every job I’ve ever worked, from supermarket cashier to high technology management, training has often occurred outside normal working hours. I’ve had to make alternative childcare arrangements and miss family events. It hasn’t always been easy, but you have to do what you have to do to get the job done. Instruction time shouldn’t be taken away from the students so that the school department and teachers can work on “goals.” It’s bad enough that weeks and weeks are spent prepping for MCAS and taking the test. As a town, we should be maximizing the amount of instruction time our students receive.

Shame on our educators - everyone knows that a half day is not in the best interest of students or their families. Half days are incredibly disruptive, and as has been noted, have now crept in to every month the kids are in school. What is going on? Why would it ever be appropriate for teachers to work on goals at this point in the school year? Goal setting should happen in late August when school is not yet in session. Teachers have ample time during the year to re-align the goals based on classroom performance. Give us all a break!

Good grief -- from what I've heard from teachers in town, the training they need right now is how to use the assessment tools! Not much to do with actually teaching or assessing our students, but more about the administration's needs to compile reports, use new technology, etc. Call a halt to this time taken from teaching in the classroom and be more creative -- find another way! Train on-line, group teachers together while students are otherwise engaged; create a time block of learning for students to allow teachers to train during school hours (put lunch, recess, story time, assembly or lecture class together); utilize volunteers; evaluate if you really need the new assessment tools (if you had to pay more for it, would you still do it? -- Do teachers want it?); rotate training before and after school hours --and I haven't even begun to dig into a real needs assessment here!

As well, I'm personally tired of having so many of our students need additional study time with tutors, mentors and outside professional study centers (at GREAT personal cost). Perhaps if they had more classroom time with their teachers -- what we pay taxes for -- they would be better off.

After doing math with the school calendar in front of me I counted only 175.5 school days, of course I counted the half days as .5 because that's what they are. How come the teachers can't stay one or two weeks after the end of the school year or start one or two weeks before the students, so they can do all this "Professional Development" thing.....Besides I don't think that the new new supervision and evaluation system was set in place without any warning, all this tranining and planning must have been done when the new system was approved not now.

This school system really doesn't care about working parents. Another half day is just ridiculous. Suck it up. I had to spend 6 hours several weekends ago writing my annual goals. The rest of the world doesn't get a "break" from their regular work to write their goals.

All it means for kids is the middle schoolers can hang out downtown and the elementary kids go home or to their friends and play video games. Neither of which is going to help the kids.