SEQUIM — School officials spent about 90 minutes answering questions last week at a forum organized to address inquiries about a new professional development plan to cut classroom time next year while boosting teacher training.
The Sequim School District still will exceed state requirements for time spent in a classroom, school officials said.
And students won’t be left with unstructured time while the teachers are undergoing training — a list of possible activities, including extracurricular pursuits, enrichment and tutoring has already been established.
An ambitious schedule for professional development has been set up for the next school year that provides 60 hours of training, compared with about nine hours this year.
To accommodate that, the district has scheduled several early release days throughout the year on Fridays and late starts on almost every Monday from September to May.
Coordinate learning
The goal is to give teachers the tools they need to help students meet stringent new educational requirements. It will also help to coordinate learning across the district so that teaching is consistent between classes, grades and schools.
“The philosophy of schools has changed radically,” said Vince Riccobene, principal of Helen Haller Elementary School.
“It’s the idea that all kids can achieve. We’ve never had that before.”
A few parents at the meeting had concerns about the new approach.
Cliff Schadler, who has a child in the seventh grade, said the amount of time a teacher spends with a student is as important as the quality of that time.
“Quantity is important,” said Schadler. “I think kids need to be with a teacher.”
In a fact sheet about the plan, the school district said holding this training during the summer break would cost about $450,000.
It would also be hard to coordinate because of the number of other things district employees do over the summer, including other jobs and additional continuing education requirements.
