There must be a better way.
Denver Public Schools has begun what seems likely to be a regular schedule of five “late start” days each school year to give teachers a chance to train together in the mornings.
We have nothing against training. But pushing back school start times by three hours is a big inconvenience for some of the district’s working parents, and an insurmountable problem for others.
Last Friday, when DPS did the first late start, some schools reported high absenteeism, which stands to reason.
If parents cannot find a way to adjust to the schedule, then perhaps they make alternative arrangements for the entire day — and their children miss a day of school.
Alex Sanchez, DPS spokesman, said the actual number of students who missed school that day was higher than usual, but not tremendously so.
It appears that about 2,000 students more than usual were absent on the first late-start day, which was Dec. 12. DPS has about 75,000 students.
Teachers used the training time to look at data, study best practices and learn about instructional initiatives. Principals, according to Sanchez, characterized it as a “very successful day.”
The training time comes out of negotiations DPS had with the teachers union over ProComp. Last summer, there was a pitched battle between the district and the teachers union over restructuring of the district’s pay-for-performance plan.
The district wanted to more heavily weight ProComp raises to the front end of the salary scale, where DPS was least competitive with other districts. However, the teachers union was against it.
Front-loading the salary schedule was a priority because DPS is in the unfortunate position of losing teachers to higher-paying suburban districts after those teachers have a few years of experience.
Teachers threatened a job action, there were scattered sickouts and even talk about a strike.
We strongly supported the district’s proposal to change the salary schedule. It made sense then and it still does.
During mediation, the district got what it wanted on the salary changes, but agreed to give teachers additional training time. That’s the origin of the delayed starts.
But there must be a better way of handling these late-start days. Perhaps high school service clubs, community groups and parents could be recruited to conduct activities in the gym for children whose parents work. Maybe the teachers could train after school.
Unfortunately, there is little time to contemplate the late-start issue. On Thursday, the school calendars for the next two years — with the late starts included — go to Denver’s board of education for approval.
Surely, some of the smart people in DPS can figure out a better solution.
