KANE — The Kane Area School District curriculum committee reflected on the new extended school day at its committee meeting on Monday night, and some concerned parents gave the board members their thoughts as well.
Last month, the school district held an informational meeting for parents regarding extending the school day for all the students in the district. The move incensed parents in the community who did not feel they had any input into the decision-making process. The school board voted in favor of extending the school day by a vote of 6 to 3 at its August meeting.
The school day for the 2013-14 school year for the district extends the dismissal time until 3:05 p.m. This means that students in kindergarten through second grade have an extra 35 minutes, while students in third through twelfth grade have an additional 20 minutes added to the school day.
Present at the meeting were committee chair Harry Steele, committee members president Stephanie Eckstrom, Dick Coleman and Ed Kocjancic, and Superintendent Dr. Maryann Anderson. School board vice president Larry Lamping did not attend the meeting.
Anderson said the first two weeks of the new school year were successful in terms of parental pickup routines. She said the first day it took approximately 15 minutes for parents to pick up their children from school, but the time decreased every day during the first two weeks. Anderson said on Monday the entire routine took less than nine minutes.
Anderson also touted some of the other positive aspects of the new routine, such as reduced traffic at the corner of Fraley Street and Hemlock Avenue, and the transportation is running more efficiently.
“The buses run like clockwork,” Anderson said. “We’ve actually eliminated two (bus) runs and four van runs.”
While there have been some positives about the extended school day, and the new dismissal time, many parents still have questions and concerns about it.
Stephanie Chandler asked about the need for a crossing guard in the downtown area of Kane for children who went to the Kane Area Community Center after school.
Anderson replied that the guard they were going to station downtown will be available in approximately one week, but in the interim, there will be no crossing guard at his proposed station.
Meanwhile, Linda Anderson addressed her concerns about what kind of instruction is happening during the added time. Anderson wanted to know what kind of data would be collected and analyzed that could be presented to the parents of the children in the school district that would show definitively how well the extra time is being used.
“Research has demonstrated that simply adding more time to a school schedule does not translate directly to higher academic achievement,” she said.
Kane Area Elementary School art teacher Peggy Houser also addressed her concerns about the new curriculum not being equal to all children. Houser said the way the current curriculum is set up, some first grade students could have as many as 17 art classes over the course of the year, but other first graders could have as little as five.
“This is not curriculum driven at this point,” Houser said.
