Ideal School Day Task Force developing recommendations on elementary schedule

The Ideal School Day Task Force, composed of teachers, administrators and parents, is working on recommendations for a consistent school day for elementary students across the district. The task force’s charge is to solve problems with our current schedule including a need for additional instructional time in math, literacy, science and social studies.

The following recommendations are in stages of development in the task force; final recommendations will not be proposed until December at the earliest.   The Task Force is seeking comment/reaction to these ideas through the following link, bvsd.org/idealschoolday.

·         Lunch periods to be extended to 25 minutes to address long-standing parent concerns about insufficient time for children to eat.

·         Recess to be extended to 45 minutes to meet district regulations on wellness and physical activity.

·         Changes to the current structure of music at 5^th grade. Boulder Valley School District historically has had a choice model for fifth grade instrumental music. All students take general music; in some schools, instrumental music currently is required for all students while in others it is still a choice. Some schools have started offering instrumental music after school, limiting access to families that can’t provide transportation for their students. The new proposal creates a choice for all families and ensures equity across the district.

·         Increased time allocated to art, so students have equal time in art, music and physical education at all grade levels.

·         A consistent length of school day for all of the district’s elementary schools.

Currently, the length of the day varies from school to school creating inequitable instructional time.

As the Ideal School Day Task Force continues its work, we will provide updates through emails and our school newsletter. There will be information posted on the district website www.bvsd.org that we will link to our school website.

An Attendance Update

Dear Nederland Elementary Community,

As of November 1st, our average daily attendance rate is over 95%!  At Back-to-School Night, I had stated that attaining a 94% rate would be an accomplishment for our school community.  As a school community, we should take a great deal of pride in this.

To give you all some perspective on this accomplishment, I want to provide you a summary of the last decade of schoolwide attendance at NES.

2005-2006 - 93.8%
2006-2007 - 94.17%
2007-2008 - 93.69%
2008-2009 - 94.8%
2009-2010 - 93.6%
2010-2011 - 93.21%
2011-2012 - 93.15%
2012-2013 - 93.13%
2013-2014 - 93.34%
2014-2015 - 93.38%

Parents, thank you for making daily attendance a priority.

Staff, thank you for your engaging teaching in classrooms, communications and extra efforts to make NES a great learning community.

PTA, thanks for providing some great after school learning opportunities that bolster enthusiasm, creativity, and student interests.

Custodial Staff and Kitchen Staff, thanks for promoting hygiene and doing your best to keep this building clean.

As we move towards the holiday season, I want to stress the importance of sending your child to school every day possible.  Every year, absences spike in the weeks before and after the winter holidays as families try to squeeze in a few more vacation days.  It's time to break that cycle.  We know that just a few missed days here and there, even if they're excused absences, can add up to too much lost learning time and put your child behind in school.  This is as true in preschool and kindergarten as it is in high school.  Put simply, too many absences at any age can affect a student's chances for academic success.

I recognize that holidays are an important time for reconnecting with families far away.  The cost of plane tickets often influence when you want to travel.  But keep in mind the costs to your children's education if they miss too much school -- and the message that you will be sending about the importance of attendance.  Even if you have made arrangements with your children's teachers to obtain classwork and homework, it doesn't make up for the interaction and learning that happens in the classroom. At Nederland Elementary, our holiday gift to your children is simple and straightforward:  we take their academic success seriously.  We will be teaching and our students will be learning, right up until vacation starts and the first day back.  Our staff believes that school is important every day.  You can help us convey that message.  This holiday season, give your children the gift of an education and the habit of attendance.

Let's keep up the great work!

Jeff