Friday, May 10, 2013
Principal Paul Thusius took an unusual step to curb the school's first-hour tardy problem in late March.
Principal Paul Thusius raised quite a few eyebrows in late March when he decided to take an unorthodox approach to Greenfield High School’s massive first-hour tardy problem. The results so far may raise a few more. It’s been nearly six weeks since Thusius determined any student tardy for his or her first-hour class would spend the entire hour in the school’s Performing Arts Center rather than be allowed to go to that class late. Through the end of April, since the new policy was put in place March 21, an average of 24.7 students have had an unexcused first-hour tardy. That’s down 285 percent from the average of 70.3 unexcused first tardies according to data compiled for approximately one month just prior to the new policy’s implementation…
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Interim Superintendent David Ewald provided School Board members with a working draft of the school days at all three educational levels.
Weeks after the Greenfield School Board decided to change school start times for more than half its schools, including a later start for the high school, board members were given a glimpse at how that schedule could look in 2013-14. Interim Superintendent David Ewald laid out a draft of when each school office could open and close, when teacher workdays could begin and end and when students would begin classes. The Board voted for a change, now “How is that going to work next year?” Ewald said at Monday’s School Board meeting. “This is a draft. It gives us a sense of how it might work, and what (administrators) think is a good way to make it work.” Under Ewald's draft, Greenfield High School’s office would be open from 6:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.…
Monday, April 8, 2013
It's been two weeks since the Greenfield School Board approved changes that impact four of the district's schools.
The Greenfield School Board voted to change the school start times at the high school, middle school and half of the district's elementary schools late last month. Those who voted for the change cited the high school's tardy issues, test scores and the health and learning habits of teenagers as reasons they believed a new start time was required. The controversial decision has fans on both sides of the fence. Patch user "KHD" wrote: "Changing the start time a lousy 20 minutes isn't going to change anything, it won't help tardiness, grades, tests scores or the kids sleep. Did anyone bring up how they are going to PAY $200,000 more yearly? The school members that voted for this should be ashamed." But Patch user "Really?" says give the move …
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
The Greenfield School Board voted, 4-3, in favor of moving the start time to 7:30 a.m., a 20-minute difference. Three other schools will have new start times as well.
After years of debate, Greenfield High School will have a later start time for the 2013-14 school year. Seven years after changing the start time to 7:10 a.m., one of the earliest start times in the state, the Greenfield School Board voted in favor of changing the start time to 7:30 a.m. starting next school year. The change has a potential price tag of approximately $216,000 in additional busing costs, a price some board members were willing to pay. “I’d like somebody to tell me what’s good about starting at 7:10,” said board member Cathy Walsh, who was one of four members to vote in favor of the move. “This has been going on for years. It’s a drain on administration. It’s a drain on the board. … When are we as a board actually going to …
Friday, March 22, 2013
After 90 students were tardy for first hour on Wednesday, principal Paul Thusius decided it was time for a drastic change.
Greenfield High School principal Paul Thusius has taken an unorthodox measure in an effort to curb the school's first-hour tardy epidemic. On Thursday, Thusius implemented a new protocol that calls for all students that are tardy first hour to report to the Performing Arts Center. They remain there for the entire first hour and are not allowed to eat or drink. They can’t text or talk and can’t listen to music. They are there to reflect on being late, Thusius said, and do homework, if they wish. Tardiness has been a huge problem at Greenfield High School in the six years since the school start time switched to 7:10 a.m. The high school had 9,671 instances of first-hour tardies during 2011-12, up from 8,591 in 2010-11. The high school had 7,…
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Administration will look at costs associated with two new, later times for Greenfield High School, where students currently begin class at 7:10 a.m.
Greenfield School Board members appear to be coming around on changing the Greenfield High School start time. That includes members who initially changed the start time to 7:10 a.m. about 6 years ago, and those who voted against a move to start school later in 2011. Board members directed administration to find out busing costs associated with either moving the high school start time to 7:30 a.m. and leaving all the rest of the schools as they are now, and moving the high school to 7:45 a.m. and pushing back the Middle School by 12 minutes to 7:30 a.m. and Maple Grove and Elm Dale elementary schools back 30 minutes to 8:45 a.m., a plan proposed in 2011. The board rejected the latter two years ago because it came with a $210,000 price tag …
Thursday, December 20, 2012
The debate over what time high school students should start the day continues in Greenfield. It is cheaper for the district to start high school earlier because it saves on transportation costs, but tardies are high and early times aren't great for teens.
The issue of the start time at Greenfield High School keeps coming back. The problem: It's far cheaper for the district to have high schoolers start their day at 7:10 a.m., but that time isn't helping the teenage students excel (or even get to school on time). Tardiness is a major problem at the school, and the board debated school start time solutions at the most recent meeting. When the start time moved five minutes ahead, from 7:15 to 7:10 a.m. in the 2007-08 school year, tardies doubled. Unexcused tardies to school went from 4,086 in 2006-07 to 7,956 in 08-08. They have remained above 7,000 every year since. Administrators told the board it will cost about $200,000 a year in transportation costs to move the start time. Some board …
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Some members of the Greenfield School Board want to change the high school start times, a year and a half after the administration's latest proposal was shot down
In an effort to address the Greenfield School District's on-again, off-again hot topic of school start times without experiencing a significant fiscal impact, district administrators are looking outside the box. Mostly because their inside-the-box ideas have not gained the majority of the School Board’s approval. Nearly a year and a half after the Greenfield School Board voted down a proposal to change Greenfield High School's start times from 7:10 a.m. to 7:45 a.m. or later because of concerns of additional busing costs, administrators offered a few new ideas Monday. The ideas, all in the early stages of development, revolve around the school’s tardiness problem. In 2007-08, when the GHS start time changed from 7:15 a.m. to 7:10 a.m., the…
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
At least one parent and one Greenfield School Board member want to revisit changing Greenfield High School's start time more than a year after the board shot down such a move.
Dolores Skowronek acknowledged that Greenfield School Board members were probably tired of her coming back to them to talk about school start times. But it’s a topic—specifically the high school’s start time of 7:10 a.m.—that Skowronek is passionate about and one she vowed she would not stop addressing until changes were made. “You have to realize you cannot alter the behavior of the population of high school students that changes every single year,” Skowronek told School Board members and administrators Monday. “You can tell these kids that they need to have more personal responsibility. You can insist that they go to bed earlier. You can insist that they get up and get to school on time. “But that will have little impact because you have…
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
The Whitnall School Board agreed a district-wide survey is necessary to make a decision on the 2012-13 school calendar.
Nearly two months after approving a 2012-13 school calendar that upset several district parents, the Whitnall School Board back-peddled and decided it needed more facts before making a decision. On Monday, the board voted, 6-1, in favor of revisiting what has become a controversial calendar at its April 16 meeting, and in the meantime, it will conduct a district-wide survey to see what works best for parents. That’s something many parents wished they had been asked in December when calendar proposals first started to appear on the board’s agenda. “The whole process was handled poorly,” Franklin resident David Wunrow said. “Communication was not offered to the entire school district... I don’t think the parents in this district were given …
HairMetalFan
5:06 pm on Sunday, May 12, 2013
I work at a hospital and get there 35 minutes early just to get a parking spot in the lot.. more ›