While I believe that parents play an important role in children this opinion presented here is almost entirely pointed at parents for the issues with Federal Way school system. I have a child in the Federal Way school system & he is doing well, BUT, this is also due to his teachers who have brought him along & mentored him! Parents can ONLY do so much as the vast majority of students spend more waking hours in the school during the week days. Better teachers who care as well as programs to enhance academics keeps students interested, involved and ultimately better educated. I feel that the person who wrote this commentary needs to get some children in school to better understand what the kids are going through.
As an employee with the Tacoma School District the biggest problem I see within education is attendance. We routinely have students who miss 20, 30, 40, 80 days of school per year. They have effectively dropped out of school long before their 16th birthday. The becca bill is worthless, as the paperwork is so cumbersome many schools don't even fill it out. If students came to school on time, every day, not only would they get a good education, but they would learn the most valuable skill any employee can have-dependability.
Maybe you better recalculate your hours. School is 5.5 hours a day. That leaves 18.5 hours. If they were to sleep 8 hours, most won't, then there are still almost twice as many hours left as there are in school.
The biggest problem is the overcrowded classrooms and lack of current textbooks/materials. If your child is an "average" student, they are put in classrooms with 30 or more students in middle school. The class does not have enough textbooks, and current materials. At least one student with behavior concerns and multiple students who do not speak english as their first language, so they require additional teacher attention. The middle schools also put resources into the Cambridge and AVID programs, and programs for students with IEP's which does not leave much for a student who does not really excell, and is not really special needs.
I'm not sure what school you go or went to, but our school day started at 7:30 AM and ended at 3:00 PM - That's 7.5 hours - and if you played a sport or did an activity, you were there until 5 PM or 6 PM at least..... In fact, I would say that probably 90% of all the schools in our district have the same type of hours, give or take 1/2 hour.
While I believe that parents play an important role in children this opinion presented here is almost entirely pointed at parents for the issues with Federal Way school system. I have a child in the Federal Way school system & he is doing well, BUT, this is also due to his teachers who have brought him along & mentored him! Parents can ONLY do so much as the vast majority of students spend more waking hours in the school during the week days. Better teachers who care as well as programs to enhance academics keeps students interested, involved and ultimately better educated. I feel that the person who wrote this commentary needs to get some children in school to better understand what the kids are going through.
As an employee with the Tacoma School District the biggest problem I see within education is attendance. We routinely have students who miss 20, 30, 40, 80 days of school per year. They have effectively dropped out of school long before their 16th birthday. The becca bill is worthless, as the paperwork is so cumbersome many schools don't even fill it out. If students came to school on time, every day, not only would they get a good education, but they would learn the most valuable skill any employee can have-dependability.
Maybe you better recalculate your hours. School is 5.5 hours a day. That leaves 18.5 hours. If they were to sleep 8 hours, most won't, then there are still almost twice as many hours left as there are in school.
The biggest problem is the overcrowded classrooms and lack of current textbooks/materials. If your child is an "average" student, they are put in classrooms with 30 or more students in middle school. The class does not have enough textbooks, and current materials. At least one student with behavior concerns and multiple students who do not speak english as their first language, so they require additional teacher attention. The middle schools also put resources into the Cambridge and AVID programs, and programs for students with IEP's which does not leave much for a student who does not really excell, and is not really special needs.
I'm not sure what school you go or went to, but our school day started at 7:30 AM and ended at 3:00 PM - That's 7.5 hours - and if you played a sport or did an activity, you were there until 5 PM or 6 PM at least..... In fact, I would say that probably 90% of all the schools in our district have the same type of hours, give or take 1/2 hour.
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