Brizard prepping longer school day model for expansion in Chicago

Chicago schools chief wants more gym, end to homeroom

11/16/2011 10:00 PM

By LA RISA LYNCH
Contributing Reporter

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JC Brizard discussed the future of the longer school day in a meeting with Skyline and Chicago Journal staff last week.
REBECCA LOMAX/Staff

Chicago Public Schools Chief Jean-Claude Brizard and Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis seem to have found some common ground in CPS’s extended school day push.

Brizard and Lewis were at odds over Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s accelerated push to tack on an extra 90 minutes to the school day for elementary school students.

Though a state law passed this spring would have allowed for a longer school day next year, both Emanuel and Brizard wanted to add more time to the school day immediately. So they offered incentives for schools and teachers willing to implement the extended school day this academic year.

CTU blasted the move as a violation of their union contract, a decision upheld by the Illinois Education Labor Relations Board. But a deal reached last week ended the extended school day push for this school year. In return, CTU dropped a complaint filed against the school district with Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office.

Brizard, in an editorial board meeting with Chicago Journal last Thursday, announced that Lewis will be working — albeit indirectly — with a committee Brizard has set up a to shape extended day curriculums.

Lewis, he said, will not be joining any committees, but she agreed that there should be a “structure to engage the CTU” in planning the longer day for next year.

In a statement Lewis said CTU has always been willing to with the CPS “on how to best use extended instructional time.” Lewis said CTU has been working on its version of a better school day plan and will share its research with CPS. Lewis contended the term “longer school day” “is a political slogan and not an education plan.”

“We believe our students deserve better school days, one that includes a rich broad curriculum, physical education, smaller class sizes, adequate facilities … and qualified teachers in every classroom,” the statement further said.

The 13 schools already implementing the longer day will be used as pilots to see what works and what didn’t. So far, Brizard said things have been going “better than expected” but expressed some worry that there were no “hiccups” in implementing the longer day.

“We expected hiccups and those hiccups would inform our work for next year,” he said. “So in some ways I’m actually a little worried, because we haven’t had enough hiccups to train us to launch full scale next year.”

One take away is the different ways schools have used those extra minutes. At Skinner North, 640 W. Scott St., the school focuses on enrichment activities while Disney II, 3815 N. Kedvale Ave., focuses on literacy and science.

He said these schools listened to parents and used student data to determine where to put the extra time. That leeway gives principals some autonomy to run their schools they see fit. But Brizard noted that there are some “non-negotiables,” including recess.

“You want teachers and principals to have control on how they allocate the time based on students’ needs,” he said.

Recess, he explained, is key to a child’s educational development. Besides the obvious physical health and wellness benefits, play “creates sense of belonging” and students learn teamwork, Brizard said.

“There is so much learning in play,” he said, noting that recess is rarely included in school curriculums.

When asked why, Brizard said recess is the first to get cut along with art and music when districts are in a budget crunch. Brizard said it was time for CPS to revisit that long-forgotten activity.

Brizard wants a diverse extended day curriculum, too. He said he fears that struggling schools will only focus on math and literacy.

“I don’t want all my rich schools with arts and music and all my poor schools with no arts and music,” he said. “There is a great awareness that we cannot be lopsided in how we do this.”

Brizard plans to tweak the high school curriculum also — he’s aiming to lengthen older students’ days by an extra 36 minutes. He plans to eliminate homeroom, a structure that Brizard said “makes no sense.” He wants to reclaim that time for instruction.

“We have to be obsessive about the use of the time as well,” Brizard said, admitting that he is not a fan of CPS’s two-track system.

Under the two-track system, students in Track E started school a full four weeks ahead of regular kids in Track R. He said the two-track system was created to prevent “summer loss” or the loss of academic learning over summer vacation. Brizard said data shows little evidence that it’s had much effect.

Part of discussion to change the academic calendar is possibly going back to a one-track system where all students start and end school at the same time. He noted the school year is too short and that Track R has not had a full week of class since September 6th.

“We close [school] to give out report cards,” he said. “Ultimately, I think we need to rethink the entire school year and school day completely, but we are not there yet.”


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