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Schools

Two More Minimum Days Added at Capo's Title 1 Elementary Schools

Five schools—those that serve the poorest students—will get two extra minimum days to make up for their later dismissal time for all minimum days.

Teachers at local Title 1 schools could end up teaching 160 more minutes than other elementary school teachers next year as they work around confusing minimum-day schedules.

At most elementary schools in the Capistrano Unified School District, minimum-day dismissal times vary throughout the year. For example, the first and last days of school have a different end-of-day times than those days with back-to-school night or parent-teacher conferences.

“Many of our schools find it’s hard to keep track of all the different dismissal times,” said Julie Hatchel, assistant superintendent of education services. The Title I schools piloted a consistent minimum-day dismissal time last year, liked it and will continue the schedule come September.

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On Wednesday, the board of trustees added two extra two minimum days needed to keep the instructional minutes at the five Title I schools—those schools that serve the poorest students—equal to the rest of the district’s elementary students.

This is also in keeping with the district’s contract with the teachers, Hatchel said.

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The days were approved 5-1, with Trustee Ellen Addonizio dissenting and Trustee Anna Bryson absent.

This is the .

At the July 11 meeting, all elementary students received two additional minimum days over last year to accommodate teacher-parent conferences. With causing larger classrooms, teachers said they needed more time to discuss students’ progress with their parents.

Now, students at  in San Clemente,  in Mission Viejo, R.H. Dana in Dana Point and  and  elementaries in San Juan Capistrano will have two more minimum days on top of the two previously added earlier in the month.

The extra minimum days will be Dec. 16 and April 6, 2012, according to a staff report.

In other news, the board:

  • Approved the “Handwriting Without Tears” curriculum for any school that wants to use donations to fund it. , when finances grew thin. The vote was 4-2, with Addonizio and Trustee Sue Palazzo dissenting. Palazzo, a teacher, said she has used Handwriting Without Tears and doesn’t like it much.
  • Directed the staff to make some tweaks in the new board agenda format. Adopted several months ago, the new format has board members flipping back and forth to find exhibits whose numbers don’t correlate to their agenda numbers, trustees complained. Staff reports aren’t always included. Trustees directed the staff to include more details, including the fiscal impact of each item and where each item fits in with the district’s mission.
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