Repeal 6 of 7 Instructional Schedule

To: SCHOOL BOARD OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY

WE THE UNDERSIGNED hereby petition the above board members to abolish the current 6 out of 7 instructional schedule and restore the customary and longstanding 5 out of 7 instructional schedule at the secondary level of Hillsborough County Public Schools in Florida.

All teachers under the current 6 out 7 instructional schedule are stretched to the breaking point and instructional effectiveness has suffered under the strain. Lesson planning has been negatively affected as has the opportunity to communicate with parents. If that were not enough, teachers must suffer the indignity of not having time to use the restroom between classes.

Exceptional Student Education teachers are particularly burdened with the added duties of writing and servicing students’ Individual Educational Plans (IEP). Often, ESE teachers must use their lesson planning periods to host an IEP annual review meeting. Many times, ESE teachers must use their lesson planning periods to gather data and write IEPs. Additionally, all teachers, in general, and ESE teachers, in particular, work at home more than twenty additional (unpaid) hours per week. Still, they are unable to keep up with the frenetic pace that the 6 out of 7 instructional schedule demands.

Most school districts across the nation continue to follow the well established schedule of 5 out of 7 instructional periods per school day. The teachers of Hillsborough County Public Schools ask the School Board of Hillsborough County to repeal the current 6 out of 7 instructional schedule and return to instructing 5 out of 7 periods in secondary schools.

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