One reason that Bristol’s students may be falling behind when they hit middle school is that they’re in class 82 hours a year less than their cohorts in most other Connecticut school districts. Add it all up and that means they are shorted the equivalent of more than two weeks in every academic year – or almost a couple of months during their time in middle school.
Board of Education member Tom O’Brien said they receive “significantly less” hours of instruction than their peers in other school districts.
Jane Anastasio, another school board member, said that middle school is a big issue in Bristol.
She said that the middle schools are not challenging top students enough.
The city’s grade schools are doing a little better. They’re educating students 46 hours a year less than the state average, according to statistics compiled by Bristol administrators.
The high schools, on the other hand, are teaching 13 hours a year more than the state average.
On a daily basis, educators said, the elementary school day should be 18 minutes a day longer to match the state average while middle schoolers need another 33 minutes a day in the classroom to match their contemporaries in other towns.
School Superintendent Philip Streifer said that extending the hours would require revising the contract the district has with the teachers’ union.
In a related issue, if the district wanted to meet the state average for the number of students per teacher, it would need to hire another 59 teachers. It has two fewer administrators per student than the state average.
It has only half the computers per student that it would need to meet the state average.
It comes down to money, officials said.
While Streifer said he’s not looking for significant increases in cash from taxpayers, the numbers show clearly that Bristol isn’t spending what everyone else is.
To match the state average per pupil, it would need to shell out an additional $12 million annually, the district’s statistics show.
“We’re not getting as much as everyone else,” Streifer said, but are still getting solid educational results. He said that Bristol is seeing an “excellent” return on its investment.
O’Brien said that building the two kindergarten through eighth grade schools that have been proposed would make a difference.
“The sooner we get there, the better we will be,” O’Brien said.
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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
11 comments:
Board of Education member Tom O’Brien said they receive “significantly less” hours of instruction than their peers in other school districts.
Well, that fits nicely with the quality of leadership the district gets from the board.
See? It all balances out.
What are those Bristol students doing all that time when they're not in class? Oh, I know. Maybe that's why the library is overrun with kids!
Ohhhh, those Bristol schools...
They could start by giving back the 15 minutes a week they took away from the students every Wednesday.
Bristol is always shortchanging its students, and here's more proof.
Those unionized teachers sure know how to put the pressure on for pay raises ..... Don't do a good job and blame everyone else .... gotta luv' em'
reality check: I agree completely with you!
Sure, Tommy boy, build new megaschools, that's the solution.
Bristol students are below the state's average in number of hours allotted to math instruction.
I don't see how building new school buildings will increase the number of hours needed for instruction.
More likely, the money dedicated to pay for the new buildings along with the interest on the debt, along with additional transportation costs will eat into the limited money supply.....
Or else they will raise our taxes even more !
Does the Board of Education want more teachers, or newer schools?
Maybe I am kind of dumb, but wouldn't it make more sense if we focused on expanding the school day rather than building new schools. Also if the amount of instructional time is a problem how is that helped by centralized schools which will put pressure on the length of the school day by increasing the commute time of many students?
But then again, no one is naming a school after me, or for that matter offering me a contract to build a new school.
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