Longer School Year Benefits

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Mallory Saylors Mrs. Haskin English 101 5 October 2009 PURPOSE: To explain to the school board why switching to a longer school year would negatively effect the students AUDIENCE: School Board of District 50 OUTCOME: I want the school board to understand why the longer school year would not be beneficial to our students METHOD OF BEGINNING: Shock the reader with a broad statement about Obama’s view of the longer school year OPENING SENTENCE: CENTRAL IDEA: THESIS: Obama’s recent proposal to extend the school day or possibly the school year, has caused debates among school officials whether this could effect the budget, the student’s abilities to excel, and the school faculty’s planning procedures…show more content…
Extending the school day and year would run up expenses for utilities, building maintenance and salaries for teachers and staff at a time when budget holes are being filled with temporary sources of money. The state's 2009-10 K-12 budget needed an infusion of more than $900 million in stimulus money, while the local district received more than $9 million in stimulus money to stabilize its budget. A voter-approved property tax increase also will bring in more than $13 million to preserve programs, including elementary school art and music, that were in jeopardy or cut during a budget shortfall. "On the face of it, I think we need a longer day, and I could go for 20 more days to extend the year," Alachua County Schools Superintendent Dan Boyd said. "However, I am not in favor of more federal intrusion into the state function of providing public education. A second thing, in Florida, when you look at the economic situation we are in, I do not see how the Florida Legislature, with the current funding system we have in place, could ever do this." Obama's suggestion was to extend traditional school into the summer months, but the more limited summer programs once available in the state and Alachua County already have been whittled away because of funding…show more content…
A few blocks east of Duval Elementary, Mount Carmel Baptist plans to start a "Saturday Academy" tutoring program in math, reading and writing for elementary schoolchildren from Gardenia Gardens, a subsidized housing community the church owns. Congregation member Catherine Mickle, a retired teacher who spent 26 years working in the school district, came up with the idea because she felt the experience of the many retired teachers in the congregation could benefit the children. Mount Carmel pastor LaMonte Newsome said he is hopeful the tutoring program will be a springboard to turning the church into the sort of weekend haven Obama is seeking. "That is the vision," he said. "We start with this, but this is a place on Saturday where kids could be ... kind of a hub of activity for the kids." Newsome said that in the face of school spending cuts, grassroots efforts might be the way to keep children working on academics later in the day, on weekends and during the summer. "I think a lot of it is going to come down to the private sector and community organizations like this that have retired educators," he

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