Late-Start -- Best Thing Since Sliced Bread

The ‘WHY’ of Late-Start?

About twenty years ago my district started looking at a way to give teachers more time for faculty meetings, professional and curriculum development; more time to collaborate within and across grade levels and between different attendance centers. Administration and teachers piloted a once-a-month late-start for students. Teachers reported at regular times. Once a month we met for 1 ½ hours block time to do the business of school improvement, mini-inservices. This pilot lasted for two years.

The ‘HOW’ of Late-Start?

As we attempted to evaluate the value of late-starts, it was clear we rarely benefitted from the 1 ½ hours. The problem seemed to stem from the old adage “We’re too busy putting out fires to plan for fire prevention.” We realized the idea was solid, but we were not putting the ‘idea’ into valuable practice.

Rather than ‘dump’ the concept, staff felt we needed a more consist approach. We needed the late-start every week. With the help of administration and our local teacher association, we studied hours for kids, duty days for teachers, and devised a schedule to maximize the time available. The ‘over-all’ plan was to have 2 meetings each week of the month. Example:
1st week PDC and SIT
2nd week PLC’s and School Improvement
3rd week Technology mini-inservice and BLT (building leadership)
4th week grade-level planning and subject team planning

We were REALLY EXCITED about the possibilities!

The ‘WHEN’ of Late-Start?

The next issue to solve was educating and involving the community. A committee of school folks and parents worked together to educate the community as to the DIRE NEED for the collaboration time and WHEN should this happen each week. Initially, teachers wanted Friday afternoon (for obvious reasons….not necessarily for productivity, but more of the “Wheeeewww,” the week is over concept!).

AND after listening to the parents and community, it was decided an ‘early-release’ would be much harder on the parents trying to monitor their children (five+ hours of children not having supervision). The concept of Late-Start might leave children unsupervised for one hour+…. many of our kids would ‘sleep’ through it. High school kids would be more available to help parents watch younger children in the morning. High school kids would not be as available with an early release; sports, clubs, jobs, etc.

Eventually, Wednesday Late-Start was born! And just in time! Little did we know when we were exclaiming the needed more time for collaboration for everything, how TRUE that statement would become.

TODAY, working as a teacher, para, or administrator in the school system DEMANDS collaboration. In the last ten years the ‘accountability’ issue has mushroomed. It would not be possible to effectively address the diverse needs of our students if we did not have our Late-Start. We feel like we are playing ‘catch-up’ as it is! I CANNOT fathom trying to accomplish what we MUST without this 1 ½ hours each week!