Monday, November 16, 2015

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 5th 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.


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