Advantage, charters

Another point for fewer regs

OUR FIRST reaction to the story about teachers and the hours they work in Little Rock was: Six and a half hours? A day?

About two dozen Little Rock schools were given Ds or Fs on the last report card, and some teachers are working 6.5 hours a day? Well, that explains a lot.

Teachers will tell you that they work a lot more than that, and surely some do. We know a few teachers, watching them on weekends, with artwork scattered all over the living room, putting together course outlines, coming up with fun new centers, and keeping up with the latest tech to keep these savvy kids interested . . . . Whole weekends spent—at home—doing schoolwork is not unusual for these people.

But even those teachers know colleagues who don’t do that kinda thing. There are teachers sleep-walking to retirement, and teachers know which ones. So do principals, although union rules mostly keep them from doing anything about it.

So when we hear that the rules allow teachers to work 6.5 hours per day, we understand that that number doesn’t apply to the successful teacher. But it certainly provides cover for the sleep-walking ones.

The school board and the superintendent of Little Rock schools may have more to say about the work day this week. Here’s hoping they can squeeze all the requirements in.

Let’s see if we have the story right (thanks to Cynthia Howell on the news side):

The rules, the regs, the policies, the requirements written down in somebody’s office says teachers get a 30-minute duty-free lunch break. Which everybody should get. No question there.

And teachers have complained that they don’t get their required individual planning time. Which is why so many on the weekends are putting together centers.

Some say they are required to report 30 minutes before the kids, and aren’t allowed to leave until 30 minutes after the kids leave.

Then they say they’re being required to attend “professional learning community meetings,” whatever those are.

Speaking of meetings—the bane of the newspaper business, and apparently other endeavors as well—somebody on the district’s Personnel Policies Committee said there are all kinds of meetings required of teachers, depending on grade level and subject level. Meetings on “academy planning”—again, whatever that is—technology meetings and, importantly, parent meetings.

The state requires 200 minutes of planning time per week—during the instructional week. (Per board member Ali Noland, who should know.) And the law says the school day can’t be lengthened without more pay.

School district leaders— at least the best ones—will tell you they can’t improve the letter grades of the most challenging schools with teachers working 6.5 hours per day, especially given all the add-ons that the rules require. School board members are frustrated because the public wants better schools. The best teachers can be frustrated by having to sign on to follow these requirements, that they’ll no doubt go beyond—and get even more frustrated knowing that so many other teachers do not.

Isn’t this whole episode just another bullet point in favor of charter schools?

THE TRADITIONAL public schools aren’t going anywhere, so the problem above must be solved. We’d recommend full eight-hour workdays for every teacher, and maybe even expand the workday. And increase teacher pay to compensate. Bonuses and merit pay could increase as well.

Whenever opponents complain about public charter schools, we will forward them this story. The rules and regs of the traditional system—sometimes conflicting with each other—have teachers running from meeting to meeting, superintendents complaining about the lack of time, and board members having to explain what they can to the public when schools fail.

But one of the advantages of public charter schools is that they can get around these rules. And focus on teaching. And educating their charges. And if those who put together the charter don’t necessarily want professional learning community meetings, they don’t have to have professional learning community meetings.

Which would free up more time for math lessons.