This year’s last day for Seattle Public Schools: June 22nd

In case you haven’t heard (we’ll admit, we hadn’t) – the Seattle School Board voted unanimously last night to NOT ask the state to waive two makeup days looming because of this winter’s snow. That means the last day of the school year will be June 22nd (one day was made up on January 27th).

P.S. Here’s the district news release sent around this morning.

34 Replies to "This year's last day for Seattle Public Schools: June 22nd"

  • Diane April 5, 2012 (10:55 am)

    tv news said there would be 3 more days; maybe I heard wrong

    • WSB April 5, 2012 (11:05 am)

      2 days. They already made up a third.
      .
      P.S. I mention this because the district sent out a news release today. We usually publish the entire news release but it seemed like for once, we could just summarize it. However, for the perso who asked, what was the reason, School Board President Michael DeBell was quoted in the news release as saying, “This is a statement on the value of classroom instruction.”

  • Ms. Whitaker-Greenway April 5, 2012 (10:57 am)

    This is ridiculous. We are a district that is CASH POOR at the moment. We are cutting programs, increasing class size and yet in our collective infinite wisdom, the Board has decided to add two additional days to the end of the school year costing $500,000. Just how much learning do you think is going to occur in those two days? It would make sense to take away a couple of Professional Development days or take a couple of days out of Spring Break or maybe, just not have two additional days. Most students, if not all, are completely checked out by June 15th as it is. Two less days is not going to make a huge difference in the grand scope of things but, class size and solid consistent programs will. Just why is this $500,000 being spent?

  • Slider April 5, 2012 (10:58 am)

    Boy the school board sure likes to spend money that the district doesn’t have on 2 days of school that will be a waste of time.

  • Pamela April 5, 2012 (11:03 am)

    I agree!? Why was no reason given for this decision?

  • Tuesday April 5, 2012 (11:46 am)

    “This is a statement on the value of classroom instruction.” It’s always a statement on something… I wonder what the teacher’s union lobbied for? Wait, I probably don’t have to wonder.

  • Anne April 5, 2012 (11:54 am)

    By law-there are supposed to be 180 days of school.Wouldn’t we be setting a precedent by changing that? I’m in my 60’s–even when I was in school we said we didn’t learn anything the last few days–I think that will always be the case no matter how long the school year. Maybe we should ask our legislators to change the law-to say-no making up snow/lost days-or shortening spring break, or starting school earlier but where/when is that line drawn?

  • WSFoodie April 5, 2012 (12:00 pm)

    I wholeheartedly agree with the school board on this one. Drawing the line at missing 3 whole days of classroom instruction seems like a sound decision.

  • Pay now or Pay Later April 5, 2012 (12:28 pm)

    Why don’t we just say that every day over 75 degrees is not cost effective and close the schools then too. I think everyday in school is more valuable than the up front expense. Bottom line is the kids need to be taught useful societal skill. The other tone of the comments is that the kids are just warehoused for seven hours and not being trained to be viable members of society. But I believe I heard the minimum days of school is 175 and not 180 which was the old standard

  • Kudugal April 5, 2012 (12:40 pm)

    What stupidity…. While I think everyone agrees that days of INSTRUCTION are important, trust me when I say that there is little instruction going on during the last two days of school…. Especially in THIS case, as many families have already made plans, and will be pulling their kiddos OUT of school in order to maintain their personal plans…. So the classroom isn’t full, and grades will have been completed and recorded on the district computer several days prior to that last Friday….No child can be held academically responsible for ANYTHING on those final days… So those last two days are spent doing all sorts of non core curricular stuff. If you really want to affect the amount of instruction that these kids are getting, REQUIRE them to be in school, not only on those days, but on all the days that parents pull their kids OUT during the year for various family vacations, little side trips, etc….. you would be shocked to see how many days are missed because of individual family choices….
    In any case, there will be an added cost to all of this. Many teachers will be using a personal day on one or both of those last two days…. because the district took SO LONG to settle this…. Teachers have made other plans, have summer jobs, etc…. so the district will end up paying BOTH the teacher, AND a substitute…… This is just another “shake your head at the district logic” moment…. It’s actually become laughable… So I for one do not want to hear the district complaining about money again…. This decision will affect my vote for any levy requests, etc…. $500,000 is a lot of money that SHOULD be used elsewhere… But I guess they have it to spare…. So be it.

  • george April 5, 2012 (1:12 pm)

    Wow. So much assumption. Most teachers still have work to do the last week, so I doubt they are bailing, calling in sick, or going off on vacation.
    The only way your point holds water is if all “last 2 days” are worthless. So now you’re saying the last 4 days are worthless, since the last two are worthless anyway, and now two more to that, equals 4. Because kids know when the last two days kick in and don’t know the differnce if two more are added to that. Maybe we should cancel the first two days of the school year so that they don’t affect the last two. Sheesh!! such logic. Are you even a teacher???

  • george April 5, 2012 (1:14 pm)

    The good news I’ve seen from some other comments is that mid-winter break will be removed from the schedule next year. Thus, school will end one week earlier in the summer (unless we get another snow blizzard). This makes so much more sense instead of pushing July 4th for the summer break release. Unless of course those last two days are “worthless” anyway.

    • WSB April 5, 2012 (1:19 pm)

      George – just so somebody doesn’t freak, it’s MIDWINTER break, not winter break. Winter break is the one between Christmas-New Year’s. The one that Seattle is phasing out is midwinter break, usually in February. But it’s not a full week … Presidents Day is still a holiday (and that’s what usually starts the week). – TR

  • add April 5, 2012 (1:16 pm)

    I don’t understand why they just couldn’t have added an extra 10-20 minutes to each school day for the rest of the year and make up the time that way – would have been much more effective in terms of classroom instruction time. I’ve heard conflicting information as to whether it’s the number of days based on a cumulative number of HOURS or if it’s just literal “days of school”. Anyone know?

  • george April 5, 2012 (1:24 pm)

    lol-good catch. I edited it :)

  • Kandice April 5, 2012 (1:35 pm)

    Completely disheartening decision – absurd. We are closing schools, cutting programs and putting kids in make shift portables yet the board turns down an opportunity to save $500,000….makes perfect sense.

    Last two days of school are spent cleaning up and daydreaming of summer I would not consider them “valuable classroom instruction” days.

  • Alki Resident April 5, 2012 (1:53 pm)

    I and some others will be going on vacation before the 22nd,so Im sure class size will be smaller at that time of year due to preplanned events and plane ticket sales.I remember well,during my last days of school.We signed yearbooks,talked and goofed around on our final days and the teacher seemed distracted with coffee and newspaper.GOOD LUCK spsd.

  • Kathleen April 5, 2012 (1:55 pm)

    Wow. Calm down people. George– totally agree with you. And Kudugal, you are really going to let this decision affect your vote on levies? What a shame. The kids missed 3 days of school in the winter. They made one up. Now they are going to make up the other two. What is the big deal? Daydreaming or not, that has nothing to do with it. You can’t force anyone not to daydream, all you can do is hold class and teach in the best way you can. Doubtful the teachers are going to bail. I give them a little more credit that they have known since the snow days that there would be potential make-up days. I mean, how would this be a surprise to anyone? I don’t get all the inflamed comments here….

  • Confused April 5, 2012 (2:06 pm)

    A neighbor kid told me that a school day counts if a meal is served as this happened earlier last year so the day did not need to be made up. So we should just serve breakfast and then turn them loose for the day.

  • bsmomma April 5, 2012 (2:34 pm)

    I think the days should have been made up during the school year and not at the end. With technology now, there should be some sort of “telecomute” for the kids then we wouldn’t have to waste how ever many hundreds of thosand dollars to “just be in a classroom” for principles sake.

  • 2 Much Whine April 5, 2012 (2:58 pm)

    If they had had chosen not to have the make-up days people would have been complaining that it is yet another sign that the schools don’t care about education and only care about vacation! You can’t have your cake and eat it too. If they had added 10 minutes to the school day then people with daycare and babysitters and work schedules would have been up in arms about that. If they had held school on those snow days they would have been scolded for ignoring the safety of the children. I’m not saying SPSD is great or even marginal but give them a break, at least they made a decision.

  • amom April 5, 2012 (3:13 pm)

    I agree that every day of quality instruction is worth the money spent. If Spring Break were shortened, then the district would still foot the bill for the same amount, just in April instead of in June. What needs to be asked is, does is this cost warranted since it falls outside the school year budget? Options: 1.) never close school. Keep it open with a ‘drive at your own risk’ clause to parents…not too safe. 2.) Realize that school will be cancelled due to some emergencies. Have a contingency plan, like lessons that are podcast and available to the students via the internet, assignments posted on-line and/or educational materials sent home “in case of emergency” so that the snow or emergency day is actually productive. 3.) Extend the school year by a few days and if there is snow or an emergency, the days are built in (bigger budget required) and the discussion is not necessary. If there is no emergency days, then the kids get some bonus days of instruction! How about we creatively and proactively solve these problems?

  • george April 5, 2012 (3:32 pm)

    BSM, . I know this is the 21st century and we’re all suupposed to be connected. But you can’t assume that every family has (can afford) internet access. Not so.
    I chuckle at all the companies out there that require an email to make a transaction. Know what?
    Also, were the teachers/admins paid on those days? Most downtown administrators I assume are salaried but could be wrong. Is it a “sick day”? Unpaid day? Maybe that can calm down the budget crowd.

  • george April 5, 2012 (3:39 pm)

    “confused” not quite. It has to be lunch. Why? Because schools are responsible for providing lunch to the “reduced lunch” students at our schools. Otherwise, they may not get that meal. Which is why, even on half days, they have a lunch period. Hence the 3rd day that didn’t need to be made up since they were there for lunch even though they were dismissed at 1pm.

  • lovewestseattle April 5, 2012 (4:36 pm)

    Teachers were sent two separate emails stating the district had already applied for the 2 day waiver from the state. These email were sent on Jan 30th and March 8. Jan 8th stated that SPS had already requested that OSPI grant the 2 day waiver, the March 8th email stated AGAIN that the waiver had already been applied for and we were not just waiting on the response from the state. I personally sent the Office of Public Affairs for SPS an email with both the Jan 30th and Mar 8 emails and received this response-

    “Thank you for your email. I recognize that the District previously said we had sought a waiver. It was later determined that the School Board had to vote on the waiver process, hence last night’s vote.

    Please let us know if you have additional questions.”

    I replied asking how if in Jan they said they had already applied for said waiver and again they stated this in March how come it wasn’t until April’s board meeting that these days were discussed or voted on. Still waiting for a reply. More importantly how does the office of public affairs not know these policies before sending out the Jan 8 and March 8 email?????

    As a teacher employed by SPS-i’m shocked that not only did they reduce pay by 1.9% but have also almost completing cut out Professional Development funding but have found $500k for two days that will not effect End of Course exams dates or graduations dates.

  • Neighborly April 5, 2012 (5:59 pm)

    I teach every day, last two days included. I’m offended by the comments assuming we don’t teach every day.

  • Kudugal April 5, 2012 (6:10 pm)

    VERY well said, “lovewestseattle”….. It is frustrating to recognize (yet again…) that at the very least, SPS has dismal communication skills, and at worse, they have people outright lying to the community. You are correct… PD could have used that 500 K.
    And there were many services within the community that were affected by the weather emergency…. But I didn’t see the garbage collection being “made up” on a Sunday, or in the evenings, etc. the truth is, weather and other emergencies happen…. It’s not as if the teachers are trying to get away with anything….. And we all know they put in a lot more than 48 hours worth of uncompensated pay over the course of a year. As I mentioned earlier, if these two days are so vital to the instruction of students, WHY are so many people thinking nothing of taking their kids out for extended vacations at other times of the year? Or for routine dental or medical check ups?…. Do those during scheduled breaks (summer, winter break, etc….) Many people think nothing of pulling their kids out to avoid traffic, or to get an early start on Thanksgiving travel … When it is the parent’s personal choice to have their kids miss school, they are OK with it….. No problem!…. It truely is hypocritical. But more than that… it just shows that, even though it is politically correct to say we want high standards in education, what many people REALLY want is somebody to watch the kids…. And the ability to excuse their own kids from those same expectations, as they see fit.

  • george April 5, 2012 (7:47 pm)

    Kudugal, I’m really trying to see your angle. Really. But, its lost in all the hostility. Why is this soooo upsetting that you would categorize EVERY family into your tirade? Yes, for some/most families, doctor/dental appointments have to be made during school hours (why not rant on why doctors don’t have more off hours? or why insurance companies demand that yearly checkups occur outside of 365 day windows? if my kid is born in March, do I wait extra time until July to do a yearly exam? Explain please.) If you really want to rail on just causes, why not on the Legislature that sets the boundaries of acceptable school attendance? I think you are pointing out the so-called 1%, not the norm.
    I am the last person to defend SPS, communication and their practices. But it seems your axe(s) to grind are miss guided in a flimsy, transparent agenda. You don’t even sound as if you have skin in the game by being a parent (why wouldn’t you want your child to receive a full education), or a teacher (“THEY put in a lot more…”).
    P.S. Garbage was picked up with a double load the following week, so the slate was “clean” so to speak.

  • jbar April 5, 2012 (8:26 pm)

    I think that it’s about instructional hours not days — at least at the state level. The OSPI – Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction sets the requirement. For 1st – 12th grade, it’s 1000 instructional hours. It’s about half that for kindergarten.

  • Kudugal April 5, 2012 (8:43 pm)

    George- I stand corrected. You are right about the garbage…. The double load of garbage was creative problem solving…. Which is what I think was needed with SPS. The city made that decision quickly…. while SPS has taken months to do so… But hey, we all lived through it, right?…. and we will live through a few days of extra classes. In the big scheme of things, it’s just money, and that will never be as important as people.
    You speak of my “hostility”… I think you are assuming my “tone”… But I believe that is the nature of reading blogs. I do not have any axe to grind, and Im not vicious…. only exhasperated and disapointed….. Seriously George…… Reread my posts in a calm tone, and you might see this. While you feel I am railing on the 1%, it reminds me that there is always a larger percentage of folks out there that DON’T write anything… sharing opinions is good, and questioning authority is ALWAYS good… so I commend others for that, and I respect your opinion… That being said, I ask that you not apply what you “think” is my tone…. I shared my thoughts calmly, and without the hostitity that you seem to think I hold…
    This all started, because the SPS made what (in my opinion…) was a poor (and yes, stupid) decision….And a record of either sound or poor financial decisions should come into play when voting….
    Finally, any tax payer (including seniors, single persons, non parents and non teachers….) has, as you say, “skin in the game”…. I also do not use the metro bus service, but feel it is my reponsibility to stay informed on the decsions that they make…. Because again, we are the ones paying the bills. Thanks for your thoughts.

  • lovewestseattle April 5, 2012 (10:06 pm)

    The main issue is not hours taught or days to be made up. The school calendar is already 180+ days and well over on hours. Bellevue School District had their waiver days approved over a month ago.

    My question is simple just as i stated before: How can the Board make a decision on Wed April 4, about applying for a waiver that they stated in two separate emails they had already applied for, one even stating they were just waiting on the state response of said waiver. (this is the Office of Public Affairs we’re talking about not hearsay in the staff lunchroom) I also believe and know first hand that SPS has implemented what they “call” full inclusion Special Education model that has placed VERY high needs students in general ed classes that are intended to be co-taught by both a Special Ed. certified teacher and general and they are currently being taught solely by the General Ed. teacher who has not been provided professional development on strategies or have they been certified in best practices when working with high needs students(severe autistic and behavior disorder special education students) due to budget cuts. My opinion would be that the $500k could have been better used with the best interest of all students in mind.

  • bolo April 5, 2012 (10:31 pm)

    Kudugal,

    Please share your kid’s dentist that makes appointments for after-school hours, weekends, vacations. Been looking for one for YEARS! My experience shows it doesn’t exist. Thanks in advance for your recommendation.

  • T April 5, 2012 (11:09 pm)

    I am glad they’re making the days up & it does at least send a message that time in the classroom is important. It moves the last day of school to a Friday & I like that as well.
    I waited until today to make plans for that week until I knew the decision for the last day.
    I’m betting that it’s still a small percentage of families that already have travel plans to leave immediately after school gets out & that their kids will miss the last two days.
    I support the board in their decision. Based on the enrollment numbers, the cost averages out to be $5/student each. I’d say it’s totally worth keeping the kids in school.

  • StringCheese April 6, 2012 (12:00 pm)

    lovewestseattle,
    I had the EXACT same thought! The district went to great lengths to notify us that they were applying for a waiver through multiple emails. Is the School Board not on their email list? Surely, this information was not unknown to them. Not a single board member thought, “Wait a minute, we haven’t applied for any waiver…” Really? Twice? Did they not take this into account during their meeting? Personally, it doesn’t really affect my family but I won’t think any less of families or staff that made plans based on repeated information regarding the waiver. Geez.

Sorry, comment time is over.