A Park Slope elementary school has whacked half an hour from students’ daily schedules because of changes under the new teachers contract — making parents scramble to make after-school arrangements.
“I know this is an inconvenience and potential hardship for some of our families,” PS 107 Principal Eve Litwack wrote last week in a letter to parents announcing that kids will be dismissed daily at 2:40 p.m. instead of 3:10 p.m.
News of the change came after a city Department of Education spokeswoman said: “Nothing’s changing. The regular instructional day remains the same.”
But schedule shifts may occur at “quite a few” other schools, said an official with the principals union, adding, “Almost everyone is revamping.”
PS 107 must shorten its school day because it added 120 minutes a week of instructional time under the last teachers contract in 2005. That contract mandated 37¹/₂ minutes a day to help struggling students.
Instead of providing after-school tutoring like other schools, PS 107 decided to “embed” the extra time into the regular schedule, “thereby extending the school day for all students,” Litwack explained.
Under the new nine-year contract, the city took back the 150 minutes for tutoring or instruction. Teachers must use that time for training and contact with parents.
“It’s definitely going to affect a lot of families,” said Michelle Jaslow, a mom and president of the parent-run PS 107 after-school program, “Everyone’s going to have to shift their schedules.”
The after-school program will have to start 30 minutes earlier. That will require extra staff time and probably a fee increase, Jaslow said.
PS 58 in Carroll Gardens plans to start and end its day earlier for grades 1-5 — changing it from 8:40 a.m.- 3 p.m. to 8 a.m.-2:20 p.m.
Some 375 parents have signed a petition at Change.org to stop the switch, saying it will force their kids to wake up earlier and go to bed earlier, leaving less time for homework and family activities.
“That’s the biggest lie,” the New York City Parents Union’s Mona Davids said of the DOE’s claim that nothing would change. “Parents and kids are getting screwed, and they haven’t told us anything.”