Brevard Schools to release students early on Wednesdays

A decision by Brevard Public Schools to release students early every Wednesday in the coming school year has left many parents scrambling to figure out how to accommodate the new schedule.

The decision to release students early on Wednesdays beginning August 19 is to give teachers more planning time. But for some working parents, the move means having to find a way to ensure their children are attended to during the times they otherwise would be in class. That's especially true for parents of younger children. Schools will offer special after-school programs on early-release days, but parents will have to pay to take advantage of that.

"They [parents] either are forced to pay money for on-site childcare at the schools for elementary or ask friends or relatives to pick up their kids if they can't adjust work schedules," said Christine McClure, a Merritt Island mom of four.

Start times will remain the same, but each school will specify its exact dismissal time, said Michelle Irwin, Director of Public Relations for Brevard Public Schools. Parents will need to get exact release times from their respective schools. High schools and middle schools will still have the same amount of class periods on early-dismissal days, but each class will be shorter.

The change was part of negotiations made by the Brevard Federation of Teachers, which fought to get teachers more time to plan, grade papers and interact with parents, said Richard Smith, BFT president.

"It's obvious that it's going to help everybody… for years now teachers have been operating with too little planning time," Smith said.

Planning time has been cut over the years, said Cocoa High teacher Vanessa Skipper, so what teachers want is that time back to do their jobs. In years prior, secondary teachers taught five out of seven class periods. That has since been lengthened to six out of seven periods.

"They [the district] saved money by taking away our planning period, which gave us a higher student load and less time to do our job," said Skipper, who was on the BFT bargaining team. "Last year I felt like I was drowning with not enough time."

Still, many parents are not happy with the move.

Rockledge resident Liisa Stephan said her experience with early release has been a "nightmare." In the past, her daughter was just out of range to qualify for busing, so she would have to walk just short of two miles home from school on early release days. At the time, her daughter was 13 and there were parts of her trip along roads without sidewalks.

"I would have to beg, borrow and steal from somebody who was driving their kid to take her home," Stephan said, noting that she was unable to pick up her daughter. Oftentimes she was held up in Orlando with her son who has cancer, she explained.

Stephan has since moved closer to Rockledge High School, where her daughter will attend 9th grade next year, but she still has concerns.

"My kid is in a very accelerated program and every minute counts," Stephan said. "If she was shorted five minutes, 10 minutes of a class all that meant was she had more homework."

Even some teachers say the early-release days are not ideal.\

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Former Central Middle School teacher Michele Hooker said the early release will indeed create some instructional issues.

"I personally think our 45-minute daily classes are too short as it is. We barely get into a lesson or discussion and it's time to pack up. Early release days cut lesson time down to just 30 minutes. The whole day becomes wasted instructional time. If we struggle getting lessons in already, how does this make it better?" Hooker said in response to a FLORIDA TODAY Facebook post. "A better plan, in my opinion, for providing teachers with planning time would be quarterly planning days around the end of the marking period - and to ensure there is no professional development on those days, only uninterrupted teacher grading and planning time."

For parents with younger students, child care is a major concern.

A document from the district stated that parents will have childcare options, and there will be a special rate for parents who just need childcare on early release days. Those rates vary by school.

"Staffing hours for school-aged childcare will be adjusted to accommodate the increased need for elementary school supervision at the close of the student day," the document stated.

Skipper said she understands the concerns as a parent herself, but that there needs to a shift in how parents view the role of schools.

"A lot of times when we hear from parents their instant worry is child care and having to pay for it and I completely understand that. My youngest is in aftercare," Skipper said. " … But I think we need to stop looking at schools as daycare."

As an English teacher, Skipper said she is often faced with the dilemma of taking home piles of essays to grade so that students get the attention they need. But it's a tradeoff between doing her job and spending time with her own family, she said.

"Do I grade these papers in the time I'm given, which means those students would not get the feedback they deserve, or do I take it home and my own kids suffer?" Skipper said.

The idea is good, said Mims Elementary teacher Danine Patrick, and the time is desperately needed, but her hope is that teachers are actually given the time to plan. As it stands, one early release day per month will be dedicated to professional development activities for teachers.

"This will be interesting to see it play out — I believe that with our current board's intentions, as long as only one per month is to be set aside for PD [professional development]," Patrick said. " … The idea is wonderful, planning time is precious and time to plan collaboratively is priceless."

Skipper said she hopes that principals only require professional development if necessary, as sometimes the activities just add to the workload of teachers and take away from their time to catch up.

"The challenge is going to come in from each school implementing it appropriately … and making sure the time is actually given to teachers for planning," Skipper said. "It's our hope that principals choose to use that day for professional development only if absolutely needed."

But not all parents are upset about the change. Some are actually embracing the early release times and looking forward to the extra time they will have with their children.

"I love the idea," said Cherie McKrow. "[It] provides me extra time to spend with my kids and allow days for scheduling afternoon appointments."

Contact Saggio at 321-242-3664 and JSaggio@FloridaToday.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessicaJSaggio