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Check all that apply.I would support a Wednesday CTM for all certified staff members. Comments
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Certified employee5Love it! This would allow us to have some intervention time during the school day that we can use our specialty staff to help provide.
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Certified employee5This is a great vision to work towards for our district. It would validate the importance of our CTMs. Thank you for considering this as an option.
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Certified employee4The ability to meet in a grade level to discussion my students with others and see how to better meet the standards would be wonderful!!
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Certified employee5I love the idea of the protected time for all certified staff. Many times we get going and need more time! This would be incredible for our CTMs.
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Certified employee5I think it is vital that prek be involved in this plan. We don’t get time to collaborate with other teachers at all. I think it would be so amazing to be able to collaborate with prek teachers and for vertical alignment with kindergarten.
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Certified employee5This is a wonderful idea! My team usually spends part of our 200 minutes for this process.
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Certified employee5I think this will be a a great opportunity for our teachers to not only meet with their grade level teams but it could also open up opportunities for vertical alignment when needed.
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Certified employee5I came back from the PLC Institute so excited. I know it will help our students grow so much and the biggest barrier was time. So knowing our leaders are thinking about it is greatly appreciated!
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Certified employee5I love this idea! I can't think of a better way to include all staff members. I do not think adding 10 minutes to our day will really be that much of a huge difference. One time per school would also allow for vertical team planning, when needed. My biggest concern teaching wise, would be TIME for planning, meeting with teams, grade levels, etc. I am in! Great idea!!!
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Parent, Certified employee4I think this would be a great opportunity for vertical alignment when needed, along with team meeting. It would also solve the issue of coverage on CTM days especially with our current sub shortage.
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Certified employee5I think this is a great idea to prioritize our CTM time. I did notice during our discussion that schools have been doing a lot of creative things to get their staff more time to meet and work through essential standards. It is also evident that the admin for each school has a lot of leeway to prioritize real planning time. I think this is a good way to make things equal and not dependent on the school . I love that SSD is taking this seriously and taking real steps to make us able to meet the needs of our students.
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Certified employee3I have mixed feelings. I LOVE that encore/elective teachers will get time to meet as a PLC, that is needed and will be wonderful. However, I am concerned about the loss of team planning at the middle school level. An additional concern is that we currently meet three days a week for 45 minutes for PLC and that will be reduced to the 80 minutes on Wednesday.
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Certified employee5Prior to coming to Springdale, I worked in a district with an early-out schedule. The main issue that we saw with community members was frustration with figuring out childcare on those days. It sounds like we have figured that out with ASP. I think this would make the master schedule process so much easier for elementary schools. It would also allow our teachers more time than they are currently getting.
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Parent, Certified employee3Currently we have a school meeting once a month and a house meeting once a month. Would this CTM be more meetings or rearrange what we already have?

Some teachers get a PLC everyday and some of us once a month. All of us have a plan period, but will this give us more or less plan time?

The Advisory/Seminar is beneficial for creating relationships with our students and helping many that have a bad home life. Will this change hurt that time in the day? PT time already cuts into that.
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Certified employee3Before I could decide about supporting this plan, I would need more information about how this would look for special education teachers. It would be beneficial if we could collaborate with others that have our same positions in other buildings. Grade-level teachers don't want us in their meetings every week. If we can't be with other special education teachers, maybe we could rotate among the grade levels. I'm just not sure how this would work for special education teachers.
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Certified employee4I think it would be a good idea because I feel like with a bigger chunk of CTM time more would be get accomplished. Since ours is 50 minutes, a lot of time we get in the middle of our work (looking at data/planning intervention groups) and then time is up. I do feel like it would make things more equal across the board for all teachers in the district for all levels (elem. middle school, jr. high, and high school). A concern for me would be as a teacher and a parent would be finding child care for my children for those early release days.
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Certified employee2Elementary teachers desperately need more time to do this meaningful work. I’ll be honest, losing 80 minutes of time with kids sounds scary too. I feel like we need more time to collaborate, but I’m also one of those teachers that never feels like there is enough time in my day to fit in all the content. I’m not sure it is as necessary for secondary as it already seems they have ample time for CTMs built in.
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Parent, Certified employee5I think it's a good idea and a good place to start.
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Parent, Certified employee3Sounds like we are going from about 160mins down to about 80min of team time
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Certified employee3For some this takes away meeting half as much meeting time that has been imperative in the past. The extra time for students as a parent is concerning in elementary because 15 minutes was already added to their day for recess and now it would be another 10, also as a teacher with a student that has to go to asp, having them have to go for an extra 80 minutes every week is also concerning to have to have them do this. Plus cost for that extra time is concerning since there would not be flexibility as a district employee and would increase cost for us that have no other choice which would be a detriment to those that have to take on this extra cost due to scheduling changes.

I do believe the time would be great, the concerns are an obstacle in my opinion and I see it from a parent and teacher perspective.
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Certified employee4There is a lot to process with this option...not good or bad....just a different way of thinking about the use of our time throughout the day.

I am concerned about the timing and equity for all (staff, kids, bus routes, after care, etc.) with the extra mins added on. I am curious about how those on after school duty might be able to fully participate.

Multiple teachers currently work in after school care at my campus. I am concerned about their avaliablity to be able to both participate in CTM meetings and run after school care at my campus.

The opportunity for encore/elective teachers to equitable participate is quite appealing. Currently scheduling for this in-building is tricky, especially with the coverage situation.

I am also concerned about the coaching of encore instructional teams with the PLC process. I know that there are trained supports/personell in the district to support this process.

I am concerned about how this might impact teams meeting about their students at the middle/jr. high levels. Although this might be a push to more effectively use time to support student achievement.
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Certified employee5I think this would be great for staff to have more focused time and a time to get specials and other staff on the same page, because it is so difficult to ever collaborate across the board with grade levels and specialty staff, I would like to see consistent ways time is being structured using the CTM teaching and learning cycle, I would love to absorb the time from Wednesday in elementary to do something like middle schools "prime time", it seems like a very structured time to get intervention and extension in to students day as well as student choice. I think this time on Wednesday would give administrators in the building more time to pop in to team CTMs, thanks for thinking flexibly and looking at all possibilities for scheduling
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Certified employee5LOVE this idea! Thank you so much for taking this into consideration.
It would be very beneficial to specialty teachers, electives, etc. to be apart of the CTM process as they support essential standards and interventions. I think it would free up more planning times during the week instead of using those for CTM overflow time. It would also be beneficial for vertical alignment conversations within a building or CTM time with all grade level teachers across the district. Lots of ideas for productive collaborative uses for this time!

Cons: Would this work with staggering start/end times for transportation purposes? This would require all CTMs to be "tight" and expectations and norms set as to what this 80 minutes is for buy-in and meeting expectations and staying on task. In order to be beneficial, schools would have to solidify the PLC process. I worry about buy-in for some faculty members.
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Certified employee2I think it is a great opportunity for all certified staff members to be part of a collaborative team meeting. I think having this time would allow more time for vertical instruction alignment. However, I am not sure how parents would respond to this change. I can see elementary parents having a difficult time, because someone might not be home on Wednesdays or they need to make changes.
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Certified employee2I know this will help elementary, but all others will lose time. It will be an adjustment.
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Parent, Certified employee5As a parent, this schedule would not be an issue.

I think it would be great for CTE/Electives to gain a CTM. Currently vertical/horizontal alignment is very difficult. Think most of our staff would be very supportive.
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Parent, Certified employee5We like the idea of having uninterrupted time as well as allowing teachers to set the agendas. This will make CTM's (aka plc's) more purposeful and productive. We also want to say we'd prefer the 10 minutes at the end of the day in elementary.
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Certified employee3Currently (my quick math so forgive me if it is not 100% accurate) 66% of our instructional staff has 160 minutes of protected CTM time built in to our master schedule. My initial concern is that if we follow this method then our CTM time for the majority of staff is cut in half. I do believe that our school building could work on master schedule to protect CTM time with the remaining staff members instead of cutting time out. Another thought I had is about our students that get to our campus late and leave campus early to travel to HBHS and how this would work on Wednesdays. Would practices/events start earlier on these dates, be cancelled, etc.? I would also be concerned about how much needs to be done during a meeting time once per week. For example, disaggregate data from last weeks CFA, make Primetime sessions based on how students performed, craft new lessons, craft a new CFA for the following, etc. My gut tells me it is more manageable to have 40-45 minute meetings daily to work through these tasks instead of fast and furious during an 80 minute meeting one time per week. The biggest takeaway to me is I think we do need to offer equitable planning time, but I see how our building could do this and still keep our 160 minutes per week of CTM time. This is my initial brainstorming, but I might be back to add more once I reflect.
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Certified employee3I also have a concern for after school duty. We have 12 staff members on duty each afternoon from 4-4:30. We do not currently have enough classified staff that could absorb all of these duty locations. It would need to be a nonnegotiable with buildings that your certified staff members are not on duty for 30 mins of their CTM time.
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Certified employee5I love this idea!! I like the idea of having the time to collaborate with other teachers within the district, vertical alignment and more time to meet with team.
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Certified employee2I love the idea of having dedicated time for CTM every week. I see the potential for improved student learning and achievement, but do not think as a district we are ready to make such a big change at this time.

I think we'll need more district buy-in before we upend the entire district master schedule. Ideally the district would bring in Solution Tree as our back to school PD so that teachers understand and know the "why" behind such a dramatic change. Once teachers have 1-2 years of implementing the PLC process with CTM's as a building, then we can move toward collaborating across the district. Having been to the PLC Institute, I understand first hand how that changed my perspective about the importance of PLC.

A good first step might be to align grade level building schedules first, i.e. all middle schools have the same master schedule and 7th grade art teachers have the same planning time so they can zoom 1-2 times per week for CTM meetings. Once teachers have bought in to the process and see the benefits, making a district wide schedule change would most likely be championed by all.

I also worry about families across the district, and the increased amount of time students would be at home alone. Having a family discussion panel with diverse participants would be necessary to make such a drastic change.
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Certified employee2Thanks for sharing this new idea. I really want to be on board with this. I love the PLC process and I think it is the exact step we need to catapult student learning forward. However, as I have thought more about what we learned, I am increasingly concerned and a little frustrated. This year has been such a great time of growth in learning about the PLC process. I feel like we have made great progress in my PLC and in my school toward getting better at this. It seems like this is the wrong time to make such a seismic shift. We still have many people at individual buildings who are not yet bought into the PLC process. I think we need to focus in on getting PLCs to a healthier spot at the building level before we start trying to unify things district wide. If we could increase buy-in locally, going to an early release will be more powerful and more successful as more teachers will be excited to make the time impact students.

Also, I'm sure our district leadership has thought about this extensively, but this seems to be too late to be presenting to SPS employees and, more importantly, the Springdale community. If we are going to significantly change when children get home from school on a weekly basis, I think we need to have a significant amount of time (maybe at least a year) of focused engagement with families. We have to have representation from the diverse community in which we live. We need parents, community stakeholders, and teachers to be able to be an active voice in the preparation for this large step. With about 6 months to go before the next school year, I just don't see how this can be done with fidelity. If we want to do this well, I would argue that we need to do something major to reach out to our families. We could hire a consulting firm that would provide expert advice on bringing together separate voices in an authentic and empowering way. We just don't have time to do this well and give the community an authentic voice at the table.

Again: I think this concept of an early release day is awesome and should absolutely be pursued. It would be incredible for our students, teachers, and community! I just think it needs to happen slowly with a clearly communicated, multi-year timeline. Thank you so much for asking our feedback on this!
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Certified employee2I love the vision to ensure the PLC process gets implemented across the district (and hopefully the RTI process with it!)
However, I don't agree with making sure everyone has the same amount of CTM time.
Our school has been working hard to richly implement the PLC process and really make a difference. We will be losing meeting time if we all have to have the same. We teach that fair is not always equal. It reminds me of the visual of the students trying to look over the fence. Giving everyone the same block to stand on isn't always the right thing to do.
I love implementing a minimum amount of meeting time for all! But I do not agree with taking time away and making sure we all have the same (fair) amount. (Some of our students come to us having greater needs and need their teacher teams to be collaborating as much as possible for student success.)
Can we implement this 80 min and still find more time to collaborate in within our schedule? Otherwise, I like and appreciate what we're working towards! Springdale always has the bar raised and I'm proud to be a part of it!
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Certified employee3Parent pushback - childcare on Wednesdays could be an issue

How would it affect current PLC time? Would it take it away and give us another class?

How would it affect DTSOI's iTime Wednesdays?

Would CTM also include AP collaboration? Social Studies vertical alignment?

Would a half day of classes once a week be better? PLC (CTM) plus PD meetings/trainings could be held this day

How do we cover duty, detention, and tutoring that last up to an hour after school?

What about teachers that drive buses?

Are the community after care/ programs willing to work with us and take on that extra 80 minutes and do they have the staff for that?

How will this affect sports and clubs that meet during after school times that are teacher run?

How much will this impact parents that are already over stressed by the bussing situation to now have to be here even earlier?

Some of these are just sort of playing devil's advocate about what some concerns could come up, not necessarily all of my personal concerns. I would need to know more specifics (especially specifics for my school) before I could clearly decide on whether or not I would personally support this!
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Parent, Certified employee5I know teachers will ask about after school programs, night school and athletics. I know some prefer a delayed start because there is concern that by the times students leave the building and people get started; there isn't really a lot of time left to meet. Will coaches be expected to participate on a team (when they don't have a game day)? I know we have teachers who have been trained in the PLC/CTM but we will need more training at the secondary level. I think it is a positive step that allows more teachers to be involved in team meetings and it will allow for better planning and focus for our teams. I think it will also allow for collaboration at the district level as well. I think vertical alignment will be a definite pro.
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Parent, Certified employee5This is the best news ever! Thank you for allowing me to give my input
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Parent, Certified employee5Allows kids to breath
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Certified employee5Let’s do it
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Certified employee5This will be a huge asset to the work that teachers are being asked to do in the essential standard learning cycle.
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Parent, Certified employee5Launch. We’ll figure it out along the way.
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Certified employee4What would this mean for personnel in non school buildings like the EL department, SPED department or at the PDC?
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Certified employee5Collaborative Team Meetings would be beneficial to professional teacher growth and student academic growth. Yes, please consider!!!!
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Parent, Certified employee5This will provide consistency and equity in our professional learning. I'm all for it. Minor logistical issues should never been an excuse to do what we know will improve student achievement.
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Certified employee4Even though it decreases my core teachers’ CTM time, I am supportive of the equity and growth opportunities for all teachers across the district.
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Certified employee5Protected time to collaborate district wide is so important!
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Certified employee5Thank you for helping to find a solution.
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Certified employee5It would give us protected uninterrupted CTM time.
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Certified employee5As a resource teacher it would be amazing to have the time to collaborate with other resource teachers at different schools!
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Parent, Certified employee5YESSSSSS!!!!!
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Certified employee5Thank you!
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Certified employee5I love the idea of protected time without the distraction of students on campus to really delve into our common class work and how to move forward with instruction.
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Certified employee5This will give us the time to collaborate more about essential standards and student data.
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Certified employee5Thank you for realizing the need of time to do this important work and working to make it more equitable.
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Parent, Certified employee5I think a late start might be easier logistically for parents that work than early dismissal. My children’s previous district had a late start that was easy. There was an am ASP type program for kids of parents that work
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Parent, Certified employee5As an SLP who only gets PLC 1x a month this is exciting to have the opportunity to get to meet with my colleagues more
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Certified employee5Having more time to analyze student data and assessments and then being able to collaborate with my team on how to proceed would be so beneficial!!