Schools

Do Professional Development Days Disrupt Continuity of Learning?

Branford Board of Education adopts the 2012-13 school calendar with five early release days for professional development – half that of 2011-12.

This year Branford students have 10 early release days and three full days for teachers to have professional development. This coming school year, students and staff will see the early release days cut in half while the amount of full professional development days remains the same.

As brought up during last year’s discussion of the 2011-12 calendar, the Branford Board of Education wants to focus on continuity of learning for students with a consistent calendar where students are in class as much as possible. The Board also emphasizes the importance of making sure educators receive continued opportunities for professional development.

BOE member Michael Krause spoke at this Wednesday’s regular BOE meeting after the group adopted the 2012-13 calendar to include five half-days and three full days for professional development.

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“As you all know, I am not in favor of this at all,” he said candidly. “With all due respect… we’re giving what’s good for the administrators and what’s good for the teachers but I am looking at what’s good for the students and their educational process.”

Krause mentioned that Francis Walsh Intermediate students will go seven weeks straight without a full week of school (Dec. 10, 2012-Jan.25, 2013).

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“That just can’t be good for children,” he complained.

In past years staff take several full professional days before school starts in addition to half days during the year. This coming year, staff will take one full professional development day on Aug. 27 before school begins and one on Sept. 18. Krause asked the Board why those days and other development days could not be taken before school starts entirely?

Assistant Superintendent Mary Peraro commented, “You have to understand that professional development is best for our kids.”

Superintendent Hamlet Hernandez noted to Krause, “I clearly see your point but this year, at this time, we had 10 and half, half-days. We reduced that by 50 percent.”

He continued, “We consciously made a decision this year to go from 10 to five because we felt that the model of having professional development and having a period for that to take hold would cycle back. We can certainly re-visit that Michael…it’s very difficult to make that systemic change on the fly.”

Hernandez said he echoed Peraro that professional development is clearly good for the students and the staff.  “If someone was to tell me, ‘can you have more professional development?’ I would say absolutely we can use more, but I have to balance that between a teacher collectively bargaining agreement and the needs of our community and of course the needs of our children.”

“Good teachers have to be constantly learning how to be better teachers,” added BOE Chair Frank Carrano.

Board member Mary Grande stated at the end of the discussion, as a consideration, her sister who is a school nurse in West Hartford said students in that district have every Wednesday as a half day but are in school longer at 184 days.  


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