Johnston Board Approves Wednesday Early Outs For 2013-14 School Year

Parents should plan for their students to be home earlier on Wednesdays next school year.

The Johnston Community School District Board of Education approved a motion to dismiss students one hour early every Wednesday during the 2013-14 school year in order for teacher collaboration time.

The decision comes after nearly three years of research on the Professional Learning Communities and use of collaborative time, said superintendent Clay Guthmiller.

"If we want higher achievement from our students then our teachers have to become learners too," Guthmiller said. "We need to improve the instruction and professional development they receive is a big part of moving us forward."

The extra hour available with the weekly early hours will allow teachers to have about 75 minutes dedicate to professional development.

The weeks will be split into days focused on district-wide initiatives, building initiatives and teacher-directed initiatives.

With the motion the district added 10 minutes to the school day so students won't lose instruction time.

The new schedule will be:

Board member Jill Morrill asked about a previous discussion of having a two hour early out every other Wednesday.

Guthmiller said two hour early outs would cause greater issues with supervision of students after school.

With the weekly early outs, Guthmiller said someone would be on hand to provide supervision for students between the end of school and when activities begin.

"For ninth and eighth grade students we could provide a study table or supervision for kids," he said. "Most high school kids go somewhere then come back."

Student board representative Dylan Johnson questioned how students might react to the early outs.

"When i talked to some kids, they like the late starts," he said. "With my experience with early dismissal and late starts, I don't hear about kids doing bad things at state start."

Board member Julie Walter expressed concern about having the early outs versus a late start.

"I thought late start was better for professional development?" she asked.
Guthmiler said in his opinion it might be because students wouldn't already be at the school, but elementary students tend to learn better in the morning and a late start could hinder that.