SBO Opinion



Last year, right before I left, the school had an SBO to shorten 6 days a year in order to have 90 minute school wide meetings. The teachers were promised meaningful PD and input. Me, being the eternal cynic, was opposed but decided to vote yes anyway. It seemed to be what the majority wanted and since I knew I wouldn't have to participate, I decided to give the Principal a break and go along with what he wanted.

Fortunately I never sat through any of those meetings. I've heard there were some where Mr. AP berated the department for 90 minutes straight. The only good thing about listening to him is that his  words work like backgroung noise while trying to mark papers or text inconspicuously. I can't say anything about any of the PD that was offered. I do know that meaningful PD requires hours of preparation, something no one working in a school has time to do. If I sat through one more Smart Board lecture where I was subjected to templates and handouts I would have walked away screaming. As for the hours spent looking at data, just writing the word makes me cringe.

The part of these days I can talk about was the affect it had on instruction. I worked at Packemin in the fall and saw first hand how my classes lost out on those days. Periods were only 30 minutes long and kids tend to treat shortened classes like free for alls. It takes a lot to keep them going. My class had abysmal attendance on those days. The kids could never remember to show up at the earlier time. For all intensive purposes, it was a lost day.

I understand there might be an SBO again to try this next year. I heard most of the staff is opposed. I'm not voting now but if I did, I would vote against. The six days of lost instruction is too much for these kids. I, and many of my colleagues, never took days off because we didn't want to lose instructional time. Why bother forcing yourself in sick and in inclimental weather when the administration is taking away days for this nonsense.