Education Notes

Montenegro offers to take leave

Former Ysleta Superintendent Hector Montenegro offered to take voluntary paid administrative leave in a letter he wrote to the Arlington School Board Wednesday.

In the letter, which was published in the Fort Worth Star Telegram, Montenegro offered to take leave starting at 5 p.m. today.

The board is set to vote on whether to place Montenegro on paid administrative leave at 8 p.m. today.

"You have my deepest apologies if I have used poor judgment, misspoken regarding district needs or have not been thorough enough in my communications with you," Montenegro said in the letter. "In no way have I knowingly or intentionally violated policy or broken the law. Please know that it is my earnest desire to always reflect favorably upon our district and you as a board."

Montenegro said he still hopes for a resolution that will allow him to return to the district.

"Professionally, this is one of the best opportunities ever. It is a great community and the district personnel are extraordinary," he said in the letter. "I strongly desire to continue serving as your Superintendent of schools!

"Personally, my entire family wants to be here and both of my daughters are enrolled in UTA. This is where we want to be."

Longer school day

The entire story did not make it into today's paper. Here it is if you are interested.

By Zahira Torres

El Paso Times

After listening to the concerns of a parent, trustees with the El Paso Independent School District Tuesday postponed a decision that would extend the school day by 15 minutes.

The district's administration called for 15 minutes to be added at the end of the day for children in elementary school and high school beginning in August.

            If approved, the move would have also added ten minutes to the start of the school day and five minutes to the end of the day for middle school students in the district.

Administrators said the change will provide more instructional opportunities for students.

Jamie Fisher, who has children at Coronado High School and Brown Middle School, told trustees that parents were not notified of any possible changes to the school day.

Fisher, who said the current schedule already forces her to drop her daughter off at a dark bus stop at 6:35 a.m., argued that the effects on parents and students should be considered before any decision is made.

“It’s not more time that the kids need,” Fisher said. “It’s better time. They send them home with homework, so that time is going to come out of their homework time but I guarantee you they won’t have less homework.”

Under the proposed plan, the school day would run from 8:15 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. for elementary children, 7:40 a.m. to 2:55 p.m. for middle-school students and 8:45 a.m. to 4 p.m. for high-school students.

Last year, classes were from 8:15 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. for elementary school students, 7:50 a.m. to 2:50 p.m. for middle school children and 8:45 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. for high school students.

Superintendent Lorenzo Garcia conceded that parent input should have been sought and said he would contact Parent Teacher Associations and school administrators to organize public input meetings in the next few weeks.

“By adding 15 additional minutes, you are adding about five additional days of instruction,” Garcia said. “It creates for a little bit longer instruction time, so that campuses can better adjust their schedule within the day and students could have appropriate passing time and appropriate time in their classrooms.”

Trustees Tuesday seemed interested in the change but voted to wait until parents had the opportunity to respond to the proposed plan.

“Most school districts around us have a longer instructional time than seven hours,” Garcia said. “We are the district that has probably the shortest instructional time.”

Desiree Espinoza, a teacher at Canyon Hills Middle School, who has children attending school in the district, agreed with the idea but was concerned about its implementation.

“I love the 15 extra minutes for instruction but they should be spread out the same way throughout,” Espinoza said. “If they are going to add them at the end of the day for some students, they should add them at the end for all of the students.”