How are Fairfax Co. teachers using extra time on elementary early release days?
Fairfax County elementary school teachers are using the extra time they receive on monthly early release days to plan, finish trainings, meet with parents and support chronically absent students, one principal in the Northern Virginia suburb told WTOP.
This year, the school district planned for eight early release days that are exclusive to elementary schools. The dates for those days vary based on a school’s location.
Last school year, the early release days were planned for Mondays, but feedback suggested there were too many Monday holidays, and using the first day of the week as an early release day extended the weekend. This year’s elementary early release days are on Wednesdays.
Parents and community members have scrutinized the early release days as part of broader criticism of this year’s academic calendar. There have been calls for more full weeks, and the school board has already voted to open schools on Veterans Day next fall.
“Having the kids out of school for an afternoon once a month, I don’t understand why we have that, when a lot of other districts don’t,” parent Alix Fetch said last month. “Even if we get some understanding of why that’s necessary, that would be helpful.”
On the planned early release days, students finish traditional classes three hours earlier than a regular day.
Last year, when the concept was rolled out, the goal was for teachers to use the time for required training tied to the Virginia Literacy Act. The legislation featured nearly 60 hours of training, said Mahri Aste, the principal of Mosaic Elementary.
Aste said 90 minutes can be used for individual teacher planning, and principals could use the other 90 minutes for staff meetings.
But the extra time is also used as recovery time for students who are chronically absent — missing 10% or more of school days in an academic year. Some teachers use it to meet with parents, and “we’re also using the time as a school for staff meetings, so that we can meet with our whole staff and talk about county initiatives,” Aste told WTOP.
“Ultimately, this is going to impact kids,” Aste said. “I talk a lot about teachers and planning, but, ultimately, it’s all going to impact kids.”
About 10 years ago, Aste said Fairfax County elementary schools closed two hours early every Monday for the same purpose. But a former school board voted to end that, and “never really had a good way of replacing that time,” she said.
A steering committee — featuring Aste and other principals, Superintendent Michelle Reid, teachers and parents — has been offering feedback and recommendations on the concept of the select elementary early release days.
High school teachers have seven-and-a-half hours of planning over a two-week period, Aste said, and elementary teachers have about four hours. The early dismissal aimed to address that inequity.
“Elementary teachers have to plan for seven subjects a day, and they have very little planning time during the week, so using those three hours, they’re using it to plan for instruction for all seven subjects, implementing new math initiatives, new language arts initiatives,” Aste said.
The school system has always “provided childcare on these early release days, so parents have the option of having their kids be at school the full day,” Aste said.
“I recognize that there’s a lot of concerns from parents about the calendar. Taking away these early release days is not going to do anything to help with the calendar issues,” she added.