1,000 signatures reached
To: Families of Zeeland Public School District
Reduce Half Days For 2023/2024
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On June 5, 2023, Zeeland Public Schools released the calendar for the 2023/2024 school year. Many families and staff were surprised to see that 6 additional half days off and 2 additional full days off were added to the 2023/2024 school year to allow time for teachers to complete Professional Development.
With this new calendar students will have 23 half days and only 12 regular weeks (5 full days) of school, for the entire 2023/2024 school year. Parents and families will need to make arrangements for their students every other Friday from September through May. Not only is this a large burden on families, but it's also a disservice to our students. They will lose a total of 64 hours, or more, of classroom time in one year. Over the course of an entire K-12 education, a ZPS student would receive a full year less of education than the students at the surrounding districts.
There are so many other negative effects that this schedule will have including how Tech Center students will be impacted and how much further behind children who have specials/electives on Friday afternoons will be than their peers in those classes. In addition, families that need to pay for childcare or take time off of work for these days will endure an additional $1,000 - $2,500 expense per year. Working parents will have less availability to volunteer for school activities and field trips due to the need to save their time off for the additional half days.
With this new calendar students will have 23 half days and only 12 regular weeks (5 full days) of school, for the entire 2023/2024 school year. Parents and families will need to make arrangements for their students every other Friday from September through May. Not only is this a large burden on families, but it's also a disservice to our students. They will lose a total of 64 hours, or more, of classroom time in one year. Over the course of an entire K-12 education, a ZPS student would receive a full year less of education than the students at the surrounding districts.
There are so many other negative effects that this schedule will have including how Tech Center students will be impacted and how much further behind children who have specials/electives on Friday afternoons will be than their peers in those classes. In addition, families that need to pay for childcare or take time off of work for these days will endure an additional $1,000 - $2,500 expense per year. Working parents will have less availability to volunteer for school activities and field trips due to the need to save their time off for the additional half days.
Why is this important?
We believe that ZPS can come up with a better scheduling solution for Professional Development time that does not include keeping students out of the classroom for so many hours every month. We ask that you join us by adding your name to request that the Zeeland Public School Admin reconsider their 2023/2024 school calendar and remove a large portion of the half days.
How it will be delivered
Petition will be presented to the School Board on June 12, 2023.