Lincoln’s students have grown accustomed to having PLC Tuesdays, whether they are once a month at the Elementary and Middle School level, or every week for High Schoolers. However, the amount of shortened classes we have left is dwindling, as the decision to abolish them has been made official by the LPS school board.
In this new plan, approved by the LPS board, PLC days will be removed from the school calendar at all grade levels. In order to make up for this loss of time off, school will be canceled fully on six new days. This plan was presented to the board by the Lincoln Educators Association (LEA), who aim to improve working conditions for teachers. In addition to claiming that PLC days are detrimental to a teacher’s planning schedule, they have also included a pay increase for teachers across the board in their plan. The six days off of school are set to be teacher planning days, where teachers can swap ideas, go to Professional Learning meetings, and have time to plan curriculum. These days will be placed at the end of school breaks, in order to give time for teachers to prepare to be back at school, before their students return to the classroom.
Students’ opinions on this matter have been mixed. Some students, especially those in Lincoln High’s IB program, say that they rely heavily on PLC time to make up missed tests, talk with teachers, and complete their heavy homework load. Maimoon Quereshi, a student at Standing Bear High School, even spoke out at board meetings to make their opinion heard, saying that, “being able to have that early dismissal day has been very helpful for me, because I’ve been able to get one extra hour in to get assignments done, work out in the weight room, hang out with friends in the library…”. However, other high schoolers believe that PLC days only make matters more confusing, and that removing them will do everyone a favor. “Usually, for me, while I do enjoy the free time, it complicates scheduling changes. I have to figure out how to get home from school. A lot of people’s parents aren’t off work yet, so if they can’t drive, then who’s going to pick them up?” asks LHS student Ursula Aggens.
Many teachers seem to agree. Brian Goodbrake, a history teacher at LHS, insists that having a shortened class on Tuesdays disrupts his workflow and makes planning his week more complicated than it should be. He believes that getting rid of PLC days will make his life easier, because he will no longer have to plan separately for Tuesdays. He also mentioned that having a different schedule on Tuesdays makes communication with people outside of the school much more difficult, because the passing period times are different, saying that “If my partner wants to call me, all my times are off!”
In addition to teachers and students, parents’ points of view also had to be considered when making this decision. Most parents are in favor of the change, because the PLC days make picking their kids up from school much harder. Deb Rasmussen, the President of the LEA, who originally put forward this plan, says that when the news of the possible policy change broke, she got an overwhelmingly positive response from community members. She even said that, “A lady stopped me at the Casey’s, I was buying a paper, and she saw that my picture was on there. She said, thank you, because PLCs have been horrible for parents to get people going.” Many students have also expressed this concern on behalf of their parents, as they know how tough it can be for them to pick people up on time, especially if they have siblings at different grade levels, who are being released at different times.
Although this plan is clearly not perfect for everyone, it seems to be a good change overall. Hopefully, it will make things easier for teachers and parents, even though it may increase student’s workloads. Luckily for the students here at LHS, the plan will not go into effect until the 2024-25 school year. We recommend that every student take the time to appreciate their extra short Tuesdays for the rest of this year, while they still have them.
Here at the Advocate, we think this new policy’s goals were summed up best by Mr Goodbrake: “We are on a constant quest to improve how we do our day here, and this is just one example of us evolving over time. I think it’ll be good.”
