HAVERHILL — Teachers have approved working longer school days at two middle schools, and now parents will get their say — including whether they want their children moved out of those buildings.
Tonight the School Committee will have a hearing to allow parents to comment on a proposal to lengthen the school day at Consentino and Whittier middle schools by 90 minutes. The two schools have a total of 1,035 students.
Superintendent Raleigh Buchanan said parents will have an opportunity to comment on the idea before the committee votes on whether to approve an agreement between the two middle schools and the Haverhill Education Association — the teachers union.
Buchanan said a favorable vote would allow him to apply for an Expanded Learning Time grant with the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. He said the application deadline is tomorrow and that Haverhill would be competing against other communities for money to launch such a program.
"If the committee does not vote in favor of the plan then it ends here," Buchanan said.
He said Haverhill stands to be awarded as much as $2.5 million a year from the state for extended learning programs at both schools for an undetermined length of time.
School Committee member Joseph Bevilacqua and Mayor James Fiorentini have asked for assurances that parents who do not want their children to attend school for another 90 minutes each day would be able to move them to Nettle or Hunking middle schools. Buchanan said the schools can handle such requests but that he doesn't expect to receive many.
Some parents are supporting an online petition against the extended day, saying it would unfairly keep children from sports and other after-school activities.
Because of lower than average MCAS scores, the two middle schools are on a state Department of Education watch list. School officials said restructuring and lengthening the school day would allow the two schools to offer more tutoring to children who need it, as well as subjects such as foreign languages and technology.
"We want them to be better prepared for the high school," Buchanan said.
He said the state money would pay for the extra hours worked by school staff, student busing, learning materials and other costs associated with a longer and restructured school day. Buchanan said the earliest both schools could alter their days would be this fall.
The teachers at both Consentino and Whittier have approved the agreement, which essentially would give them the same rate of pay per hour for the extra time they work that they are now receiving, according to Haverhill Education Association President Marc Harvey.
If the committee fails to vote tonight, Buchanan said the opportunity to apply for the grant this year will have been lost.
Consentino Principal Mary Malone and Whittier Principal Beth Kitsos worked on the grant application for more than a year with help from their staffs, the central office and parents. They submitted their detailed plans to restructure and lengthen the school day at their buildings to the state for review and got the approval to publish their plans last summer.
"Both plans have been available on each school's Web site since July 1," Malone said. "We want to redesign the day and focus on academic achievement."
Both schools held public information sessions last spring where they informed parents of the Extended Learning Time plan and listened to parents comment on the idea.
Buchanan said the extended day concept is gaining in popularity in Massachusetts, where the concept began.
"Today, 26 schools in 12 communities serving more than 13,500 children are implementing extended learning," Buchanan said. "This is coming and within five years we'll have extended time everywhere. We're just trying to be ready and the grant is the only way that I can get funding."
Parents to give opinions
What: Discussion of longer school day
When: Tonight at 7
Where: Haverhill High auditorium, 137 Monument St.
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