Education Twenty NYC Middle Schools’ Days To Be Extended, Kids Will Probably Not Be Happy
by John Surico
Our collective inner child is kicking and screaming over this story. But our collective adult self is affirmatively nodding in agreement that maybe this will actually help students. Growing up sucks.
Yesterday, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Education Chancellor Dennis M. Walcott announced a plan to tack on two and a half hours to twenty middle schools’ days in the nation’s largest public education system, affecting almost two thousand sixth graders in total. The extended duration of classes will be partially paid by City Council and non-profit organizations. And educators will use this time to teach reading and other activities to schoolchildren.
It’s been a recent effort on the national stage, as nearly a thousand school systems across the country have implemented longer times in the classroom. As of now, the name and locations of the twenty experimental middle schools in New York City are not known.
But when that information is released and the pilot program begins in September, expect a temper tantrum. Or two thousand.