District 65 parents, take note.

The School Board is poised to increase the number of early dismissal days in the 2006-07 school calendar in order to create more large blocks of time for professional development.

The plan to add more abbreviated days to the calendar has drawn criticism from the founder of a parents' advocacy organization that addresses the mismatch between school schedules and those of working parents.

"A one-hour early dismissal for a single mother who works in Vernon Hills can mean that she has to take off an entire day of work, or sometimes a half day of work," said Rhonda Present, the founder of ParentsWork and a King Laboratory School parent.

The revised calendar, to be voted on Monday, would increase from three to five the number of days on which school is shortened by one hour. The days, all Thursdays to coincide with after-school faculty meetings, would occur on Sept. 28, Nov. 2 and Dec. 7 of 2006 and on Feb. 1 and May 10 of 2007.

As in the past, the school calendar also includes 25 non-attendance days for winter and spring break and sundry holidays. Also built into the calendar are two, one-half days of attendance.

Sick in school

Present noted that parents who can't afford to miss more work might be inclined to send their children to school sick.

"This is not a matter of 'inconvenience,'" said Present, taking umbrage with an administrator's use of the word. "This is about family health and economic security. This could mean the difference between somebody keeping their job at Target."

During the 2006-07 school year, elementary teachers will be trained in a new reading series and the use of writers' workshops to encourage students to write about topics that interest them.

Other topics include culturally responsive teaching methods, using assessments to shape lesson plans, the use of technology, middle school collaboration and differentiation of the curriculum, particularly in mathematics, according to Susan Schultz, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction.

District 65 administrators have vowed to work on a plan to provide child care coverage for the gap in time between the student's early dismissal and the regular dismissal time.

During the 2005-06 school year, the district arranged with Family Focus, the Youth Organization Umbrella and the city of Evanston's Recreation Department to provide activities on abbreviated school days, but parents did not utilize the service, according to Assistant Superintendent Lynn McCarthy.

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