Obamas Plan for Longer School Days

A longer school day certainly would not be the end of the world! Why is it okay by so many parents to cart their children from one sport or activity to another to the point where they barely have time to grab a quick dinner and do their homework??? But, the mention of extending the school day or year will set so many people off. Some of these kids schedules with after school activities are more jam packed than most busy adults!If you ask me, I would say that as a society we need to recheck our priorities and this is just one of the examples.

I couldn't agree w/ the previous poster more. I am lucky enough to stay home but I feel for the parents that don't that have to worry about babysitters and daycares for random days off during the year, half days, long weekends, holidays, vacations and especially summer vacation. I honestly wouldn't see the harm in going to school longer. I know my oldest is often lonely during the summer and can't wait for school to start again.

I agree with him wholeheartedly. 5-6 hours of school a day is nothing. What's wrong with 8-10 hours of school? It will leave less time for gangs, drinking, sex, hanging out doing nothing, etc., etc., etc. Three months of school vacation? Why? I know so many parents who scramble in the summertime trying to find affordable and worthwhile care and activities for their children. One month school vacation will keep them busy and give teachers extra money. The children are the future and we need to stop coddling them so much. I can't begin to think of how many latch-key children who will be happy for supervision and company until mom or dad gets home. I'm all for it. I support him.

I would like to see a longer school day, especially seeing I am a working parent. A longer school day would mean that instead of my daughter going to daycare, she could stay in school where she would be learning instead. I would also love for them to re-instate gym and the arts back into the daily curriculum. I agree that we are behind other countries in education. Those countries have children learning 5 languauges by the time they are 6 or 8. I also agree that the government needs to provide more funding in education. However, us Americans need to realize that this funding doesn't come from anywhere. Other countries have a more socialistic government where the majority of the money they earn goes back into the government in the form of taxes, thus giving the government the spending power to educate our children better and give universal healthcare. So if we want less taxes, we need to take more personal responsibility on our child's education. If we want more government assistance, we need to pay for it!

Like one of your other posters, I remember getting on the bus at 6:30 in the morning and not getting home until 4:30 in the afternoon. I checked with my niece and she gets on the bus at 7:45 and comes home at 3:50. What ever happened to quality education and time in the classroom. she has 6 periods in a day and it seems like she really doesn't learn much because when she comes home with homework she doesn't know how to complete it. (btw she's in 5th grade) Her great grandparents who take care of her aren't able to help much because it has been so long since they have used their school skills they are at their wits end often calling in backup from their kids to get her help. I am all for year round school if the schedule is steady. Give the kids 4 semesters with 2 weeks off between each. That is time for a break and time for parents to do all kinds of things especially save money on babysitting. Also a longer day would coincide with the parents schedule and make it safer when kids get off the bus. Just my thoughts though.

I am from the Netherlands and the school year is a lot longer than the 181 days that Massachusetts demands and we still have a pretty long summer vacation. Japan has the longest school year with something like 300 days per year in school. It is no wonder US schools cannot teach kids as much since they only go to school for 181 out of 365 days total. I would hate to have my kids give up summer vacation, but during the school year we have so many vacation days, half days, holidays and 3 week long vacations that it is hard to actually keep a job and take care of your kids. The HUGE 2+ months summer vacation was for kids helping parents with the harvest on a farm. No one I know still lives on a farm but all parents are going broke figuring out how to keep kids supervised while working. I think the school calender needs to change.

I was sure I went to school for much longer days than the kids today do. I confirmed this with my mother. I remembered correctly. Our days were much longer. We had homework, but not the excessive amounts that todays kids have. We had things like music, art, physical education - even Home Economics and typing! I think teachers today do not have the time to do what they did past generations.

Another point: We move a lot and my children have experienced many different schools. We were once in a school district that had year round school schedules. This came about because of overcrowding in schools, so the teachers hated it, because they had to move out of the classroom every couple of months. From my perspective, though, it was great! About the time the kids would get burned out in school, they would get a break. They were more than ready to go back to school after a few weeks. They retained more of what they learned and stayed motivated throughout the year. Not the biggest consideration, but an added benefit, is that we could take vacations in the middle of the year, when things weren't so crowded or so hot. My only complaint was that I had three children on three different schedules. This was due to the age difference of my kids. One in elementary school, one in middle school and the other in high school. There was rarely a time when all three were out of school at the same time and often had just one at home. If the three schedules could have coincided, I would have absolutely LOVED the year round school schedule. Even with that - If I were to only factor in the children and not my own needs/wants it was the best thing for them. They thrived in that environment. I suspect teachers would like it as well, if they weren't required to move out of their classrooms every couple of months.

This will be an interesting discussion,R.! My answer is more than my opinion though, it is based on facts and real experience. (Background: I taught school in the US and in Europe, and later managed a worldwide education business that gave me the opportunity to visit classrooms and meet ministers of education from countries all over the world.)

We already spend more $$ per student than most other western countries, and we are still behind (although not as far as we once were.) Children in most other comparitive nations start school younger, and go to school for a much longer day and school year. Add up those hours of instruction and you can't help but be better educated.

There are good teachers and there are bad teachers; that's true in any profession. But teacher unions prevent weeding out poor performers and rewarding the best performers. So a teacher's pay is based on number of years in the system, not how effective they are. Again, it isn't money, it is management's inability to manage.

So I agree that we should have longer school days and a longer school year. (Homework would probably be somewhat less as a result, because you would have more time to practice in class.)

Some quick data points: a high school grad from Hong Kong or Austria is at least 2 years ahead of the US high school grad. (I have looked at their curricula.) If a European high school teen speaks multiple langauges, it is not because he/she is around people speaking all these languages (contrary to popular opinion) - it's because they start languages at a very young age and take many years of instruction (not the 2-4 years that our kids take.) I know several young adults from Europe who are fluent in at least 3 or 4 languages. They are from remote towns where few people speak English, but they started studying it in the first few years of elementary school, and continued for many years.

Here's my most important observation. I probably shouldn't
have saved it for last since most people won't read this far. :-) The single most important influence on children's academic success is the attitude and support of their parents/guardians: restricting TV time, supporting the teachers and the school, letting your children know how important education is, making sure they devote enough time to homework, making sure school comes before sports or anything else... the list goes on.

My town has one of the best school systems in the state, but not every child who goes through the system ends up with a great education. That's because the opportunity is there, but not every child/family takes advantage of it.

Sorry this was so long. I can get carried away on this subject!

i don't agree with longer days, but shorter vacations and school year round would be beneficial. my first child just started kindergarten, and i'm amazingly disapointed that she only goes half a day, it's 2 1/2 hours! i'm pretty sure her school is the last to switch to full days, and that it will next year or the year after. but c'mon, 2 1/2?! how do they get anything done?
anyway, maybe an hour extra in school per day, but Obama purposes kids staying in school until 5 o'clock. that's ridiculous. by the time they get home, it's supper, then it's homework, then it's bedtime. because you know they keep telling us that a solid 8 hours is key to learning. and what about time for the extras like sports and drama and music?
longer days just don't make sense, not if you still want your kids to be happy. and me personally, i would miss my kids like crazy if they were at school that long.

I'm not in favor of longer school days -- although I know kids in other countries spend more time per day in school and that in the US we put more emphasis on after-school sports programs and such, it still seems to me that kids spend enough of the day in school, plus working on homework, and I'd like to spend SOME of the day with my kids. However, I definitely think we should consider a much shorter summer vacation, or even doing away with summer vacation. I agree that it's a long time to expect kids to retain information from the previous year, and so many kids go to alternative summer day programs anyway that I don't see why they shouldn't just be in school. From what I've read elsewhere, getting rid of summer vacation would not be very popular with parents, although I'm not sure why -- it seems like it would make it easier, especially for families in which both parents work.

I am not sure if I am currect, but I thought the US scored very well internationally until the 4th or 5th grade and then plummets? In any case, I personally think that it is about quality and not quantity. I went to a rigorous private high school. Our calendar was much shorter than the public schools, but the days were slightly longer. The biggest difference was in the expectations of the student. The pressure to do well came from both the teachers and home. There was no leniency for work not finished or mediocre attempts to complete an assignment. I think there is a lot of apathy - parents that feel it is not their job to educate their child, teachers that feel unsupported and unable to discipline a child, administration that has to be more concerned with safety than education, etc. Personally, I think a lot more needs to change than just the calendar and I don't think throwing money at the situation will fix anything (BTW this a matter of the states and municipalities, not the federal government). The public school system has to deal with such a wide range of problems that I really don't know where we should begin.
C.

I don't think they should extend the school day. This idea of extending the school day, I feel, is geared for kids who have both parents working until 5:00 or later and this way they wouldn't have to worry about child care. Instead of making kids stay at school until they're dog tired (and not in the right frame of mind for learning anyway), I think they should reduce the # of vacations the kids have. For instance, in our school system the kids have a week in February, and then another week in April. One of those could be eliminated. The February one is good because we can play in the snow, go skiing, etc. But April is not yet warm enough to do anything as far as family vacations go, so why not eliminate that one. Teachers are awesome, they work so hard for not nearly enough pay. I support them 100%. Just my 2 cents.

Our almost 13 y.o. son currently goes to school from 7:30 to 2:15. Personally, I'd love to see the school day go from 8 or 8:30 to 4PM. Kids this age need more sleep not less. They feel more grown up and they want to stay up later, but they still need their sleep to learn and remain healthy.

As for the school day itself, I think more learning is good but we can't forget about active time as well. I'd love to see gym reinstated to every day. It would help burn off some energy and keep their minds more active and focussed, while teaching better life habits from the start.

As for summers, I'm torn. I know my son totally LIVES for the summer breaks. It refuels him for the next year. Sure, he forgets some of the stuff and needs to regroup when the school year starts again. (We work on sticky spots over the summer so all is not lost.) But I believe there is growth and learning that happens outside of the school, too. Refueling and recreation is an important part of growth as well.

Personally, I don't know how two-income families do it and not fall apart. Jobs, school, and all of the days off for school are a scheduling nightmare. It was easier when our son was in preschool where it was open every day of the year except standard work holidays. Sometimes I wonder if people want school to become all year for their convenience rather than for the educational aspect. Part of me can see their point, if I'm reading them correctly. I'm home full-time when I'm not freelancing. Whenever I think, "Gee, it would be nice to work with a company again." I think, "Not quite yet...our son still could use guidance in this and that and the other thing."

However, for all of the complaints I hear about teachers being cramped for time to teach the curriculum within the prescribed time allotments, it sure seems like the last few weeks of each year are a total loss for learning at school. I can't count the number of field trips and fun they have in classes. I'm all for fun, but I always wonder if the curriculum was fully completed when the "fun" begins.

When I grew up in the midwest, we had almost three months off during the summer. In New England, where I was born and now reside, the summer is just two months. It's almost as if the full 10-months in the school year out here isn't fully being utilized as it is.

I'd have to hear more specifics about how more school hours were planned--longer days, all year, or whatever. There is no doubt that the U.S. is behind some countries in academics. One thing I've noticed is that, because kids learn in so many different ways, many different tools are used to teach. But sometimes I think rote memorization still has it's place--with multiplication for instance.

I greatly respect Obama and his efforts in so many different areas. He's getting us to think and discern again--tools we've set down in recent years.

Hi R.:

I've been a teacher of both middle and high school students for five years. Currently, I teach college students part time and also have experience with younger students as well. Being a teacher, I know that teachers have several years of schooling well beyond most professions. Personally, I feel the schools are failing because of the following reasons: 1). a majority of students are not taught respect now for teachers or classmates (either at home or in school), 2). too many students are "allowed" to pass a grade or a subject without actually knowing the subject 3). principals do not back their teachers 4). students have too many distractions from school work -(such as work, sports or computers) 5). Not enough is being done to remove dangerous students from the schools 6). kids aren't getting enough exercise or sleep.

This is just my personal opinion. I think if things changed from within the school system to boost standards and encourage good teaching, we would be doing better as a nation. Increasing the length of the school day will only result in teachers babysitting students who are not ready for another few hours of school work. Students need a little break to go out and play or participate in a sport before settling down to do homework for the night! This should not be done in the classroom!

Ok so i do think that it would not hurt for the kids to be in school longer but with that being said we need home ec classes back 2 recesses 30 min and music programs. From reading his plans it also sounds like he is trying to have school longer also for kids that have no where to go. there are some kids that have nothing else to do or go. Now with that being said it is not a baby sitting program either. I particually did not like school at all but i had those other classes(ref to above)that made a difference. I do not like that teachers now just teach the kids about ex:Mcas a test that would help them keep there job. My daughter comes every Monday for me to sign a booklet that states she did the Mcas homework and i have seen it and i must sign it. What about everyday homework do they care that this is done? To much emphasis on these test and not teaching them ALL the things they need to know. If it is taught correctly we would not have to drill all the info in there head for a test they would just know it. So should they go to school longer sure why not it will not hurt. yes it would be less time in front of the tv and video games hanging on the corner getting in trouble ect. THERE ARE GOOD KIDS STILL OUT THERE!!!!

I feel that our teachers are educated well. Being a teacher myself, I know we are constantly learning new things and having to go back to school to continue our education. Many times as a teacher I find the parents not supporting the teachers in school allowing their children to do what they want and act how they want. Lot's of times teachers have to teach social and behavioral skills before they are able to really get into academic curriculum. We have begun sending simple homework home to Kindergartners and first graders. Often I find parents saying they do not have enough time to tackle 5 min math practice or even reading one book with their child. It also amazes me to find that parents don't really know their child's ability. You can definitely tell the difference between the kids with support at home and those who don't. Unfortunately with the cost of living these days and lot's of single parents and split homes, kids are getting left behind. As a society I think we need to support each other more and our children. They are the ones who are losing out because of the need for more money and material items. Would it be so bad if we had basic cable, and basic cell phones to save some money so that we could be home after school and help out our kids? More money in schools would be fantastic. If teachers, police, fireman etc. were paid as much as superstars or sports people our society would be headed in the right direction. But when it comes down to it. A good teacher is able to teach with just themselves and a room full of students. There is always a way to perk interest and create an enriched environment.

I happen to agree that we need longer school days or at least less vacations. I have thought this for years. Do we really need a Christmas, winter and spring vacation? Education is key. Of course it would require more money and teacher training to do this, but I support that too. That's just my opinion, and I usually do not agree with the president!

HI R., I'm a school teacher so I've definitely been thinking about this. I absolutely agree with your suggestions about what would be good uses of money for our schools. The only thing that I wanted to add is that while I wouldn't like to spend more time in school, the reality is that American students do spend less time in school than any other equally developed nation - and we score lower on most international tests. So, while I don't love the idea, the logic behind it makes sense. The things you are suggesting should also be done, but I guess I can't say that the proposal is unfair...

Not that this helps any, but this is one of the main reasons my family homeschools.

Other countries probably only have to teach school in one language and do not have the discipline issues we have here in the US, I am sure the kids are in school long enough but it is what they get to cover while they are there. I also believe kids need the extra activities of sports, music lessons or whatever, what a good way for a child to feel good about themselves when they can do these after school activities and maybe excel at it.

I agree mcas testing should stop. The kids do not need all the vacations they get through the year. The mcas testing puts a lot of pressure on the kids the week they are taking them. I agree with the other poster you are a brave lady to bring this subject up....

I don't think longer school days are the answer. I think having year-round school is. Give the kids more breaks -- or shorten all the days -- but that long stretch over the summer is just too much for both the parents AND the kids. The kids forget what they learned and the parents have to find more daycare for the kids -- which, if the parent isn't careful or have enough money, can place the child in not-so-good circumstances.

I also think that kids get burnt out. If you need longer classes, fine. but alternate them with another longer class. You can only fit so much stuff inside a kids head at one time. in my opinion the only thing a longer school day would help would be to have the kids in a safe place until mom and dad get home from work.

I come from a family of teachers,but had lousy personal experiences in school, so I can sort of see two sides to this one. I'm not sure what what the op means by unfair -- unfair to whom? And I'll say, there's a part of me that feels our whole system is built around the wrong foundational material and will never work for some students. That said, for the kids who do well with structure and the folks who believe that reading, writing and 'rithmetic are the most important skills out there:

In general, I don't feel that adding days onto our school year in and of itself can fix the education problem in the US. In many places, I feel it will be compounding a problem: chiefly, that we've got kids stuck in places where anyone would be unhappy.

OTOH, in areas where the schools are good, it makes sense to me to have more days in school. But I want to be clear that this means in school districts where all children are served well -- the underachievers, overachievers and everyone in between, where the kids are doing their learning primarily at school, where homework isn't relied upon to "make up the difference" beyond 10% of their education. I mean in schools that look and feel less like prisons and more like, well, schools, where the teachers and administrators can still relate to the students as people. And I mean in schools that have managed to keep some semblance of a balance between the sciences and the arts.

At the very least, our summer break should probably be divided and conquered. Give the students 2-3 weeks twice instead of the whole summer all in one shot. The teachers really do get stuck catching people up after summer break, and it's complicated by the fact that these are new students they are assessing and getting to know, and vice versa. Not ideal.

Hi R.,

In my opinion, class sizes need to be smaller. More individual attention that way. More inclusion for all of the children, more comfortable setting. I think someone just wrote a book on that subject after a recent study and found that smaller classes promoted more learning. Homeschooled children are required a minimum of 2 hours per day for learning. It's not the length of time but the individual attention to teach and be sure that the lesson is understood. If it is, move on to the next lesson. If not, spend more time on the subject to be sure it is understood. Teachers can't do that in the large classroom setting.

It is also my opinion that you don't need all of the fancy gadgetry to be able to learn. People learned just fine, even better actually, years ago with just a chalkboard and chalk. A schoolteacher just wrote a book, I think, about THAT subject. He said teachers don't need all of the extra equipment. All they need is a chalkboard and a piece of chalk. No need to spend tons of money on all the "upgrades." Think about it. Look at all of the incredible works that humans achieved without computers: pyramids, Machu Pichu, the Roman Colosseum, St. Paul's Cathedral; NASA put men on the moon with the amount of computer ability found in todays' calculators. Sure technology is helpful but it isn't the end-all to improving children's performance.

Children want to feel wanted. They don't want to be seen as a failure. Smaller classrooms allow them to be more comfortable and to achieve more.

And teachers shouldn't allow children to fall through the cracks! Get rid of the lousy teachers! I had a coworker who used to teach high school. She gave one of her students a passing grade because everyone else had been doing it all his school years. The young man was illiterate! He graduated but his diploma was a joke. I would have failed him and worked with him myself to allow him to be able to go out into the world with more of a chance for success. Since he was given his diploma, he is now not eligible for GED study. The poor guy!

My mother substitute taught in a Florida school in a poor area. She was disgusted with the lack of encouragement on the part of the teacher she substituted for. The students had a 10 word list of spelling words to learn. The teacher told them they only should try to learn five. Since they were given such a low goal, the children did not feel encouraged and didn't even learn those five words. My mother said, "You can learn ten words!" Guess what. They learned ten words.

Attention, goals, encouragement. That's what children need. They will get moreindividual time within the same school time framework that exists now if they the classrooms are smaller.

Parents need to encourage their children's education at home as well as at school too. They need to show that education is important by being involved.

Threre's my two cents,
: ) Maureen

I think you make great points, Rosie. As an educator, I also found that our current academic calendar (centered around a harvest year that has long become obsolete to our society) is also detrimental to our kids' learning. Keeping kids in school for longer days (and even year-around) would not only increase their opportunity for learning but would allow for better retention of knowledge and an easier foundation upon which to build new skills. It would also, in my highest hopes, force the "system" to pay educators more, hence bringing their compensation more in line with the incredible value of the work they do. I have found that many parents, like me, cannot afford after-school and summer activities that can enrich the life and education of my child the way school does. I would love an opportunity for Vanessa to be a part of a longer program. The fact of the matter is that I have to find alternate care for her anyway given that I work full time. What better activities to occupy her than learning and growing?

Having said all that, I absolutely agree that the system has MANY flaws that need to be tackled if we are to truly bring our kids up to par, and the ones you mentioned are at the top of that list!

I have to agree with the first two posters, especially when it comes to summer vacation. So much learning is lost over the summer break that the first several weeks of the new year is spent is "relearning" material from the previous year that was forgotten over the summer months.

Think about what you are saying...you said that if the government would put more money into the schools our students would not be so far behind. One of the ways they government could put more money into the school system is by adding more hours to the school day or by adding more days to the school year so there are more opportunities for academic learning. I don't think what Obama is proposing is unfair, I think it's something this country needs to seriously consider if we want to be a country that retains its position as a global leader.

I also believe we are not giving our teachers enough credit for the hard work and dedication they are giving our students. Everyone complains about how teachers get paid for working 9 months a year and get summers off, but the vast marjority of the teachers I know go to school themselves during the summer, paying tuition out of their own pockets. They also pay for classroom supplies with their own money because there aren't enough funds to go around. They work long hours, sometimes in less than desirable conditions, have to be nurse, social worker, mentor, problem solver, mediator and who knows what else, and try to get academics in too. And the work week doesn't end Friday afternoon when the bell rings. Most teachers lug stacks of papers home to grade over the weekends. It's not as easy being a teacher as some people like to think, especially in this day and age.

If anything is unfair, it's expecting our students to enter the world with anything less than the highest quality education we can provide, and quite frankly, we are failing to provide them that.

Just something to think about.

I don't know exactly what President Obama has proposed so I can't answer to his proposition. I do think that a shorter summer vacation would not be horrible. Most kids are bored by the end of the summer. Two weeks shorter would not be the end of the world.

The vacations that are currently in place (December, February, and April) usually aren't eliminated because in school systems where they've experimented doing so they've seen an rise in absences for illness; this is my understanding. A week off at those times is beneficial for students.

If the school day itself were longer, even by one hour, I don't think it would be terrible. Adding ten minutes to each period, ten minutes to lunch, I think would be helpful to reinforce studies and give kids time to enjoy their day a bit more. (Oh yeah kids should enjoy school!)

A long-standing problem in US culture, in my opinion, is the lack of respect and value on teaching as a profession. I believe many, but not enough, people share this opinion. Preparing young people for the future is a huge, if not the most important, responsibility that a society has. Most people hold teachers responsible for things that are not their competence and do not give them the support for things that are. And then, teachers who carry out detrimental practices to children are kept in their positions because of beaurocracy and young, bright, enthusiastic teachers are lost to the profession because they're not paid enough. It's very complicated. I am not an educator so don't have the first clue as to how to solve these problems. I do have great respect for good educators. In my opinion they are up there with doctors for society's most important roles. Without good parents, good doctors, and good educators, a society really doesn't have much of a chance.

Any teacher will tell you that the long summer break means a month of re-learning in September. A longer school day and year would mean less homework at night. Parents who lobby their local schools to keep music, art, phys ed and other enrichment programs will find that these essential programs can be part of a longer school day. Parents who have their kids at a different activity every single day (karate, gymnastics, soccer, dance, piano, etc.) at their own expense will find that they can do less of these things and let their kids have some down time during which they can develop creativity. Most kids these days are going full tilt anyway, so what's the big deal if they spend some of that in school?

Towns have to realize that their taxes go to support the schools too. It's not just federal money. That's why the school systems vary so much from town to town. If it were all federal money, everything would be even. That means that citizens can't keep asking to reduce taxes but still expect the same level of services.

Many teachers DO take extra classes, and often at their own expense. Most teachers have summer jobs to make ends meet. Parents often complain when schools are closed for professional development days, but that's when teachers get extra training too.

Teacher pay is based on seniority and not necessarily on merit. Unions serve a purpose in many ways, but they also prevent top teachers from shining and poor teachers from being removed. And a good chunk of a teacher's paycheck goes to pay union dues. So they wind up getting 2nd jobs during the year, or summer jobs. I read the posts here from teachers, and I'm frankly quite shocked at the number of misspellings (not typos) from our educators! So they need more work than just education courses!

We no longer have an agrarian economy and so the "summer off to work the fields" model is pretty antiquated. There are many parents who really struggle to find (and pay for) summer programs for their kids now that 2 incomes are needed for so many families.

There are plenty of kids who don't have access to enrichment programs or summer programs, so having schools open later or on weekends is a beneficial thing.

The strains on the federal budget are immense. Less money is available because of the huge investment (or waste, depending on your point of view) on the Iraq war, homeland security, pork barrel projects, disaster relief due to climate change issues (floods, fires, droughts), and more. Obama is trying to reallocate a lot of funding to education, which I think is a good thing. Because so many people are out of work, income taxes are down, and that means less funding for so many important projects. People want the government to put more money into schools, as you do, but they absolutely have to figure out where that money is going to come from, and they must write to their senators and representative on a regular basis to state their priorities. The squeaky wheel gets the grease, in politics as in other areas. If you want more money in schools, then you have to tell your elected officials what you want to cut in order to achieve that. And since a big chunk of federal education money is administered and disbursed by each state, then state and local officials needs to be prodded as well.

Most people want affordable healthy care, but the summer town hall meetings were just a mass of screaming complainers who shot down every proposal without even knowing what they entailed. It was a pathetic display of incivility. That's not the way to achieve meaningful change. We all need to educate ourselves on how the processes work, what the plans really involve, and work together to achieve our goals. We probably are pretty similar in what we want, so we need to look very closely at proposals, read more extensively, and be willing to examine our current habits and see which ones are worth saving and which can be altered for the benefit of our kids.

you are brave to open this can of worms! LOL
longer school days would be very beneficial.. the school districts keep cutting programs.. Class times are shortened and they really need to get rid of mcas tests.. I agree the kids need to be tested to see if they can go on to the next grade, but they put way too much emphasis on the teachers to teach kids to pass the test, not to teach kids relevent curriculum. They spend so much time on the mcas stuff , that my daughter almost wasn't taught cursive handwriting. There are schools that do go longer days and Saturdays (In Malden & Lynn I think), and those kids excel. AND, they love going. They aren't rushed, they learn at a good pace and they all do very well. My kids last year, had 5 minutes allotted for them to eat lunch, they only have gym or music or art once a week.. recess is about 15 minutes. There's not enough time in the day to get everything done.

I would be very upset if they made either longer days or shortened summer break. Kids need time to be kids and in my opinion thats just as important as what they learn in school. My son just started kindergarten and his day is 8:30 to 2:50 more than long enough. With homework on top of already long school days there is barely any family and play time. I had kids to raise them not for what is in most cases an over worked teacher to do so. Kids already spend the majority of their waking hours at school enough is enough.