BodySuperintendent Jerry Wartgow presented to the Denver Board of Education Thursday evening (December 6) a school-year calendar that would add 15 minutes of instructional time to every school day, add one additional day of classes to every school year, and build in six and one-half days of professional staff development for teachers.

The proposal would boost the number of student hours by the equivalent of more than seven days over the course of a school year.

"We are compelled to expand the amount of time on task in classrooms, given the urgent need to improve student achievement," said Superintendent Wartgow. "We also know it's critical to better coordinate and provide high-quality staff development for teachers. This proposal allows us to do both."

Wartgow said schools would be urged to add the 15-minutes of time in such a way that it yielded "solid instruction". Literacy or mathematics blocks should be expanded by 15 minutes, he suggested.

Wartgow emphasized that the proposed calendar revisions are just the first of many major changes needed to boost achievement. Others elements of reform will be proposed to strengthen and maximize the use of the new instruction school time, he said.

Under the plan, teacher days would be increased by 2.5 days over the current schedule, with 2 full days at the beginning of the school year to provide time to assess incoming students.

Additional proposals will be rolled out as part of the development of the budget for 2002-2003 school year. Wartgow said that budget would directly link to the district's goals of setting high expectations, improving the performance of students, and closing the gap between better and poorer performing students.

Superintendent Wartgow estimated the additional costs of the calendar proposal at about $2.8 million and said that expense would be a top priority for the 2002-2003 budget. Increased transportation costs for the proposal might add another $85,000.

Some items in the proposal require negotiation with the Denver Classroom Teachers Association, Wartgow acknowledged. The additional 15 minutes for each student - and Wartgow pointed out that the established number of student hours in a day should only be considered a minimum - would be included in the existing eight-hour teacher workday.

Under the details of the calendar proposal developed by all Area and Assistant Area Superintendents, the new calendar would:

• Increase from 174.5 to 175.5 the number of student days.
  
• End the first semester before the winter break;
  
• Set aside two days for walk-in registration prior to the school year;
  
• Be coordinated with all schools on the continuous year calendar;
  
• Provide for the first time 6.5 days for coordinated, district-wide professional staff development. Some of the staff development days might be organized within the district's four quadrants.

Board members expressed strong support during a discussion of the proposal during a work session Thursday evening.

Board President Elaine Gantz Berman called the proposal "terrific[sigma]it clearly focuses on the district goal of more instruction for students and providing teachers with more time for professional development, which is what they've been asking for for a long time."

A precise calendar incorporating suggestions raised during the Thursday work session will be drafted as specific calendar dates and presented to the Board soon, Wartgow said, with adoption to be considered in January after public comment.

Once done, Wartgow added, the concept would be built into a three-year calendar and a rolling, three-year calendar would be maintained.