August 2023 Pre-Service Days
Below are two FB posts, a letter and three speeches regarding the two extra pre-service days.
A. December 4, 2022 FB Post in reaction to Dec. 1 School Board Meeting and a call for emails to eliminate August 17 and 18 pre-service days
B. January 2, 2023 FB Post - a reaction to the December 15 School Board vote on the 23-24 calendar.
C. May 22, 2023 - Letter to school.board@apsva.us to eliminate August 17-18 pre-service days
D. June 8, 2023 - Speech at School Board Meeting by Paul Weiss
E. June 8, 2023 - Speech at School Board Meeting by Margaret Johnson
F. June 22, 2023 - Speech at School Board Meeting by Paul Weiss
A. December 4, 2022 FB Post
I'm very weary of the trend of our school board taking the word of the Cabinet as a default until we busy teachers and parents speak out to them WHEN THE WORK HAD ALREADY BEEN DONE, in this instance through the Calendar Committee! Luckily the suggestion of Option 1 was such a glaring mistake, the school board could not overlook it.
Regarding this alarming and frustrating process, I'd like to point out an important example of my frustration with the board from Thursday night's meeting:
In response to Chairman Goldstein saying he'd like to explore not having 7 days of preservice, Supt. Duran falsely replied, "Where would we add those, at the end of the year? Those are part of the contractual days for teachers to work."
Chairman Goldstein took the Superintendent at his false word and the revision to the calendar released after the meeting still has us coming in for 7 days of preservice.
Our contracts are in fact 200 days. The difference between the 190+ APS requires us to spend in the building or doing awful PD and the 200 in our contracts are "balance days" acknowledging (though small and not even close to reality) that teachers work way beyond contract days/hours.
So the August 17, 18 preservice days are basically APS telling teachers we don't respect your time as professionals. You must come in to the building or track your time for us. This applies to Indigenous People's Day as well.
Both the AEA Executive Board (of which I'm a member) and TCI (of which I'm a member) have written to the Superintendent and the school board the following plan:
1) Delete August Thursday Friday pre-service days.
Teachers work way beyond contract hours throughout the year and summer ensuring quality education for every student. There is no reason to force us into buildings unnecessarily.
2) Adopt this Preservice week schedule:
3 days of unencumbered time for teacher planning and collaboration
½ day for required PL
½ day for school based required PL
1 day for county inservice
I'm hoping you'll join me in setting the record straight regarding our contract and in advocating for the above preservice plan.
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B. January 2, 2023 Facebook Post
School Board Calendar Debrief:
THANK YOU to all who wrote to the school board in favor of deleting Thursday August 17 and Friday August 18 from the 23-24 calendar and to recommend a teacher-centered (therefore student-centered) first week of planning days before the start of school. I also want to thank everyone who spoke for their remarks in person on these issues at the December 15 meeting.
Despite your voices, however, the school board did not act on our behalf and chose the Cabinet over us.
Yes, Mary Kadera brought up the issue, but inexplicably chose to wait until “next year,” basically deferring to the full-time Cabinet and giving them time to come up with reasons to bring us in early. By voting “yes” on the calendar, Mary Kadera failed to act on our behalf.
Yes, Reid Golstein, brought up the issue, but called for “analysis” to look at “the placement” of those two days, not to cut them. Again, by voting “yes” on the calendar, Reid Goldstein failed to act on our behalf.
Talk is cheap. Next August we will be coming into work on Thursday August 17 and be taken out of collaborative meetings with our colleagues for centralized PD because our school board members chose the Cabinet over our easy fix that would have a great positive impact on us and our students: our working conditions are Arlington students’ learning conditions.
But talk is also progress! Our voices did push the needle albeit ever so slightly. We can push it further! We need to push it further for our colleagues and our students.
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C. May 22, 2023 Letter to School Board
Dear School Board Members:
Now that the budget is finalized and the survey for the 2024-2025 calendar is closed, I’m writing to ask you to again reconsider forcing teachers to start pre-service days on Thursday August 17 and Friday August 18 2023.
In response to Chairman Goldstein’s comment at the December 1 School Board Meeting calendar discussion regarding having five days of preservice instead of seven, Supt. Duran replied, "Where would we add those [2 days]? At the end of the year? Those are part of the contractual days for teachers to work." (APS SB Meeting December 1, 2022: 2:56)
This is an incorrect reading of our contracts.
Our contracts are in fact 200 days not the 194 that we are required to be present for so eliminating those two days does not affect our contract. The difference between the 190+ days APS requires us to spend in the building and the 200 in our contracts are "balance days," acknowledging (minimally and not even close to reality) that teachers work beyond the 194 required days. (Embed ATU link on balance days)
2. Forcing us to start on August 17 and 18th is an insult to our professional integrity.
Teachers are professionals who care about our students. Our job is impossible to do only during our contract hours.
Do you really want teachers to strictly adhere to the 200 contract days? If so, I can confidently state that every teacher will have worked through their balance hours by November 1. Should we then on Nov. 2 start working only during our contract hours?
3. These two days are also disrespectful of the way in which teachers use summer to do formal and informal work as well as recharge for the upcoming school year.
I personally spend time reading and responding to letters that my prospective AP Literature students write to me in the summer. I also reexamine my curriculum and do informal research on learning and lesson planning as well as compose and submit dozens of college letters of recommendation.
I happily do these by choice because I love my students. Being compelled to start August 17 and 18th instead of the following Monday August 21 is a gut punch to my preparation for my students.
4. Furthermore, those two extra preservice days are an unfair tax on teachers with families.
These two extra days force teachers with families to scramble to find (and, for many, pay for) an extra two days of child care. Some teachers with families who can’t find two days of help will be taking a 200-400 dollar hit per child to pay for a week’s worth of summer camp just for those two days.
5. There is also no historical precedent for these two extra days. APS teachers and administrators thrived for years before these burdensome days were recently added to the calendar. In fact, when I first started teaching in Arlington, we had only four preservice days.
Below is a plan proposed by respected and expert teacher voices of TCI. It is not too late to implement this plan.
1) Delete Thursday August 17th and Friday August 18th pre-service days.
Teachers work way beyond contract hours throughout the year and summer ensuring quality education for every student. Compelling teachers to come in these two extra days is counterproductive.
2) Adopt this Preservice week schedule:
3 days of unencumbered time for teacher planning and collaboration
½ day for required PL
½ day for school based required PL
1 day for county inservice
Please put your words of appreciation for teachers that you expressed earlier this month into ACTION and eliminate the two extra preservice days of Thursday August 17 and Friday August 18.
Thank you,
Paul Weiss
20 Year APS Teacher
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D. June 8 Speech - Paul Weiss
Good Evening. My name is Paul Weiss and this is my twenty first year as a teacher in Arlington Public Schools. I am a member of ATU, the Arlington Teachers Union.
I’m speaking tonight to make a case against forcing teachers to report to schools on Thursday August 17 and Friday August 18.
As you may hopefully read in my more detailed handout, my basic arguments are that the justification for Aug. 17 and 18 is based on an incorrect reading of our contracts, that those days damage teacher morale, those days place an unfair burden on teachers with families, and those days lack a historical and practical precedent: when I started in APS we had 4 pre-service days, and we have had 5 (not seven) for 16 of my 21 years here. APS teachers survived (even thrived) without 7 days of preservice.
These two days are also disrespectful of the way in which teachers use summer to do formal and informal work as well as recharge for the upcoming school year.
According to the highly respected National Boards for Teaching the best practice of teaching is a recursive, reflective process. Teachers adapt during and throughout the year in order to meet the needs of their individual students. The five days before the start of the year is a good time for teachers to prepare for their classes and collaborate with their school-based colleagues. Additional time before we have met our students does not aid our planning. Instead, the additional two days only add to teacher stress and insult our integrity as professionals who work well-beyond the 200 contract days each year.
Finally, these additional days make summer school that much less attractive to qualified teachers who are desperately needed to teach our most vulnerable students.
In May you spoke and wrote of your appreciation and respect for the professionalism of Arlington’s teachers. Now it's time to act on those words.
Do not force teachers to report on August 17 and 18th. Thank you.
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E. June 8 Speech - Margaret Johnson
Good evening. My name is Margaret Johnson, and I am a member of ATU, the Arlington Teacher’s Union. I started teaching in APS in 1999. I’m here to ask you to again reconsider forcing teachers to start pre-service days on Thursday and Friday, August 17 and 18. This request is not about the calendar, but about improving teacher working conditions that have a direct impact on student learning conditions.
While teachers are contracted for 200 days, the current calendar allots 194 days in the building, plus 6 “balance” days, acknowledging minimally (and not even close to reality) the many cumulative hours we work beyond the 194 building days. We give this extra time outside of hours because we love our students - we meet with students during our lunch, sponsor clubs, grade and plan in the evenings and on weekends, write letters of recommendation, attend after school events, meetings and PD, etc.
Why should the two extraneous days of pre-service PD be eliminated?
For one, teachers give far more than 6 days, or 45 hours, of balance time. In fact, most of us have reached 45 outside hours by November. Making teachers come in for those two days is insulting to our integrity.
Second, the PD is ineffective and counterproductive. For a county that says it values data, I might suggest the School Board request the data the Central Office collects on our PD and meetings. Interestingly, this data is not included in press-releases or reports I’ve seen. I’d love to see any APS data showing that the extra hours and days of PD and meetings have improved outcomes for our students! We already know the data on teacher morale, largely a result of having less and less time to do what we know is best for kids.
The cumulative effect of more meetings and PD for teachers is less time for us to do what is right by students in what Dr. Durán tonight rightly characterized as an increasingly complex school environment. Removing the ineffective and demoralizing two extraneous days of pre-service PD would be a first step in righting this wrong course we’re on. I would urge the School Board to put action behind its words praising teachers, and begin to truly trust and listen to teachers.
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F. June 22, 2023 - Speech to School Board by Paul Weiss
Good Evening. My name is Paul Weiss. I just finished my 21st year of teaching in Arlington. I am a member of ATU, the Arlington Teachers Union.
On May 22 many colleagues and I emailed the school board about eliminating the unnecessary preservice days of August 17 and 18th 2023. I received a reply inviting me to fill out a survey for the calendar 2024 and beyond.
It is a privilege and luxury for non-student facing staff to put off decisions to the future.
But my colleagues and I will be preparing for teaching our students this year 2023. These students deserve the same benefits as future students
There is no reason for you to be bureaucratically paralyzed in June when it comes to making decisions for our students this fall.
At the meeting previous to this one, I handed you a plan discussed and unanimously adopted by APS’s Teacher Council on Instruction eliminating the extra two preservice days and offering a template for the Monday through Friday days as the best way for teachers to prepare for our students this fall.
TCI is made up of teachers appointed by the same building administrators you extol almost every meeting. I’m at a loss as to why you don’t value their opinion.
On June 8 Dr. Mayo mentioned the existence of floating days for teachers. When you voted to add instructional time to the school day and instructional days to the calendar the past two years, our floating days were significantly reduced if not deleted altogether. August 17th 18th are perfect candidates to replenish teacher floating days.
For every student who will be in our schools next fall 2023, turn your praise for teachers into action tonight, adopt TCI’s Pre-Service Schedule for this August 2023.