During a meeting on May 5, the Plymouth School Board heard a proposal concerning professional development for teachers and administrators that could take effect for the 2015-2016 school year. The Board did not take action on the proposal.
Speaking for the administrative team that has been forming the proposal was Plymouth High School Principal James Condon.
Condon said their recommendation would be to start school one hour late every Tuesday in every school building in the corporation. The new plan would eliminate the current practice of having three full days of professional development when students did not attend school. He said, “The DOE (Department of Education) recently released new standards and the new state assessments are still being constructed.” He added that the collaboration time will help them develop a Professional Development Plan that provides ongoing opportunities for the development of curriculum and assessments.” “This will increase the capacity of our staff to meet individual student needs.” Condon said.
He went on to explain that the professional development meetings could be large group meetings that focus on state, corporation, or building-wide initiatives or mandates or small group/team meetings that focus on curriculum planning, development of assessment and student performance results. He said they would be studying data during the meetings to look at specific results.
As he talked about possible supervision of students during the hour start time delay, Condon said, “Safety always comes first. If we couldn’t assure safety, we wouldn’t be here.” He said that they considered the need for parents to drop off children at the same time as other days saying, “Mrs. Richie (director of before and after school care), will provide adults who will supervise elementary children in each of the four buildings plus Riverside. Aides will supervise children who arrive early at Lincoln Junior High and Plymouth High School.” He did not indicate whether there would be a charge for parents for the child care.
Superintendent Daniel Tyree said they will be sending out a letter to parents/guardians on May 6 with information and to review comments.
Tyree said there would still be one six-hour Professional Development Day in September when students would not attend school.
Tyree said plans are to discuss the proposal with the PEA (Plymouth Teachers Association) on May 11.
Carol Anders Correspondent
