Earlier is not better for these Queens parents.
One Long Island City school is making its daily schedule earlier this year due to new changes in the teacher’s contract, drawing the ire of working parents who say the new routine will deprive them of precious time with their kids.
PS 78’s new day will begin at 8 a.m. and end at 2:20 p.m, a full 40-minute shift from last year’s schedule.
“Nobody gives a d**n about parents and families,” said Kris Schrey, the head of the Long Island City Parents Group and the father of a first grader at PS 78. “Parents are up in arms.”
Upset parents in Long Island City started an online petition last week to fix the school’s schedule, and have thus far gotten more than 130 signatures.
“We’re really losing that 40 minutes a day with our children,” said Klara Ostrager, one of the three mothers at the K-6 who started the Change.org petition. “We’ll still be getting out of work at the same time.”
The changes are due to the city’s new contract with teachers, which stipulates more time for teacher development and parent engagement early in the week, including an 80-minute chunk on Mondays.
The teacher workday must happen between 8 am and 4pm without a teacher vote, meaning that many schools have changed to earlier schedules, according to Education Department spokeswoman Devora Kaye.
“In order to reach all learners, teachers have to be highly trained in the craft of teaching,” said Kaye. “The professional development time we have agreed to here is essential for that.”
But parents say that development will come at a cost.
“A lot of us need afterschool care,” said Ostrager, who said she estimates the new schedule could cost working parents like herself and her husband an extra hour a day of baby-sitting fees–more than $3,000 a year.
Roughly 30% of schools have changed their start times, Kaye said, though some have shifted forward. Most changes have been about 15 minutes, Kaye said.
Earlier this summer, officials at PS 58 and PS 107 in Cobble Hill drew ire from parents in those neighborhoods due to similar schedule shifts.
Queens parents say they just hope to find a solution with PS 78.
“We hope they reconsider,” said Ostrager. “If it’s something that the teachers want, maybe we can find a compromise.”
