Englewood on the Palisades Charter School

“Parents object to plan for longer school days at Englewood charter school.” Northern Valley Suburbanite 16 Jun 2011 

ENGLEWOOD - Parents on Tuesday vocalized their objection to Englewood on the Palisades Charter School's plan to extend the school day until 5 p.m.

Parents and teachers who attended the June 14 meeting argued that extending the school day yields no positive effect on learning...

Parents also said that children are already overwhelmed with the amount of time and homework they have currently.

"The crush of all this extra time is burning out our children and their teachers," [Hesma Ankton, president of the school's Parent Teacher Organization] said, reading from the petition.

Charter school Board President Rosa Bland said that the education leaders would take the petition into consideration, but added there is a nationwide push toward longer school years and more class time.

Bland said that previous extensions to the school day, and any further ones, are intended to allow for enrichment programming such as world languages, music, art, and other such clubs tied into the core curriculum, rather than classes...

Several parents said even the current length of the school day was "too much."

One parent said that her children have complained to her that they "can't think" after 3 p.m., and are overwhelmed with the amount of time they spend at school, asking her why they aren't "normal" like the students at the city's public schools, which get out at 3 p.m.

Another parent said her child is often doing homework until 10 p.m., and has no time to play or relax, instead going right to school in the morning, coming home, and working on homework for several hours before going to bed. She said it's good to have programs available, but it's too much...

Board Member Elizabeth Henry said the children will need to be prepared not just to compete with other students in the area, but with people from all over the world as globalization increases...