Some Twin Rivers teachers upset about extended class time

From: The Sacramento Bee
http://www.sacbee.com/education/story/1170607.html
By Deb Kollars

A decision to add 25 to 30 more teaching minutes every day for elementary children in the new Twin Rivers Unified School District has upset many teachers there.

About 400 met Tuesday afternoon at a union meeting to complain about the schedule changes, which took hold when school opened last week.

Some schools lengthened the day to provide the instructional minutes. Others shortened recesses and lunches. The goal was to help students achieve at higher levels.

According to many Twin Rivers teachers, children no longer have enough time to eat and play, and teachers are struggling to fit their lunches and preparation time into the school day.

"It's very stressful now," said Joyce Childs, a special education teacher at Pioneer Elementary, where lunches went from 45 to 30 minutes. More teaching time is good for children, she said, but not at the expense of other important uses of the school day. In the past, she noted, teachers used the longer lunch periods to help children who were behind, lead student councils and prepare lessons.

"When you add up the minutes, it's 12 extra days we are teaching," Childs said.

The change in instructional minutes – a rare move among districts – came as part of a new teachers contract being negotiated in the district, which was created July 1 when four districts merged. Parts of the contract are still being worked out, and it is not expected to go to members for a vote until later this fall.

But the district and teachers have a formal agreement on the added instructional minutes, as well as salary raises. The district isn't directly paying for the extra teaching minutes, but it is putting $3 million toward equalizing and raising salaries throughout the district.

According to Janice Auld, president of Twin Rivers United Educators, teachers could vote down the entire contract, but that would mean the salary raises might go away.

"I'm not sure we can change it this year," she said of the additional minutes. "But it's a one-year contract, so things could be modified next year."

Merging four districts and coming up with a single contract was bound to create some tough spots, Auld said.

"I liken this contract to building a house while you're living in it," she said.