DeKalb has posted their Irma Make Up Schedule

9 thoughts on “DeKalb has posted their Irma Make Up Schedule”

1. Just no! This is crazy. They couldn’t come up with a better solution? What will happen in the winter if we have bad weather?

2. Write a letter to your superintendent and school board now.
   melvin_johnson@dekalbschoolsga.org,
   michael_erwin@dekalbschoolsga.org,
   jim_mcmahan@dekalbschoolsga.org,
   joyce_morley@dekalbschoolsga.org,
   marshall_orson@dekalbschoolsga.org,
   stan_jester@dekalbschoolsga.org,
   vickie_turner@dekalbschoolsga.org,
   rsgreen@dekalbschoolsga.org

3. I think it is ridiculous. All these kids play sports and can barely get there in time normally. With this schedule they will never to be able to get there on time. It is not for them to change the school day at this time. I will be checking my child out 3 days a week for sports

4. While I am not sure that 20 minutes a day will add any actual teaching/learning value, I do like the return of Nov 7th to a school day. I also appreciate that they’re not changing fall or winter break dates. It is too soon to use the inclement weather days in Feb and March now because who knows what will happen in the winter. This is a no win situation for the county. I think they’re doing the best they can.

5. This is crazy. At DHS, that is 5 minutes more per class. And less for schools not on a block schedule. Think of the most unproductive way possible to make up four lost days and this would be it!

6. School or more important than sports. I’m sure all the various teams can manage. I would have preferred several Saturdays or even taking away fall break, but at the end of the day – 20 extra minutes is manageable.

7. Thanks for the listing of school board contacts! I just sent the following letter:

   I’m convinced I live in Crazytown. This is the most absurd plan I have ever, EVER heard of, for making up missed school days. Firstly, with Georgia being declared a State of Emergency for Hurricane Irma, my understanding is that it is NOT REQUIRED that the children make up the lost time. Please someone correct me if I am wrong.

   Even if you don’t support just “excusing” those days, aren’t the reserved inclement weather days EXACTLY what should be considered? After all, didn’t we actually have inclement weather?!?! We have a new October break that doesn’t coincide with any holiday, so most parents have to work and won’t be going anywhere during those 5 days anyway. When did not disturbing “planned” family vacations become the priority over actually implementing an effective plan? Or look at using one day during each upcoming break/holiday (Oct/Nov/Dec), so as to minimize impact and increase probability of success.

   With my son at DHS, I understand the challenge of making up the time before the end of the year, considering the block schedule. Don’t we trust our teachers enough that we believe they can use their best judgement on how to catch the children up on the lost time? I’m sure there’s enough “optional” activities that can be reduced or eliminated to make up for this time, instead of adding 5/10 minutes to each class for 3 months. Not to mention, with my Mother being a teacher, she has said that the current plan make it IMPOSSIBLE for the teachers to accommodate their DAILY plans to try to make up the 4 lost days in 5/10 minutes, and actually makes it a MUCH more difficult task for them.

   None of the above even considers the impact on thousands and thousands of families and businesses with schedules that are timed to the minute, between work, sports, activities, daycare, etc. This impacts parents’ work schedules, public and private after-school care, childrens’ recreational and competitive clubs and sports, bus employees and schedules (some will now deal with rush hour traffic, potentially exponentially increasing time to get the children safely home), increased stress on parents and children, less family time in the evenings and potential increased liability and insurance issues.

   To come up with this plan in a bubble without the feedback from the community (including the teachers!!!) is downright autocratic.

   Not that you asked, but I vote for excusing the days completely, and allowing each individual teacher the opportunity for them to uniquely determine the best method to make up the content missed. You might be pleasantly surprised how smart and innovative some of our teachers actually are here in Dekalb County, when given the opportunity to take ownership of solutioning a problem. Please feel free to contact me regarding any additional questions or concerns.

8. Seriously?? Attention span?? Here in Beaufort County, South Carolina our 2017–2018 calendar already has Saturday makeup days in place. LOVED our Dunwoody Schools, though. So glad our children were educated at Vanderlyn, Peachtree (Jr High/MS), and Dunwoody HS. All went to Tech.

9. I think that adding 20 minutes to the end of every day is just dumb! For DHS, they use the block schedule so that makes an already long and intense class that much longer. Fatigue sets in after an hour so that extra 5 minutes will be completely wasted. I would much rather make up the time via whole days like Tuesday, Nov 7th and Thursday / Friday, Dec 21 & 22. That will give you back 3 of the 4 days. If the County must make up a fourth day this year, hold school one Saturday like December 16th. That date is far enough in the future to plan around plus students might could use an extra day of school to prepare for finals. Just some thoughts to consider.