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Lorain City staff raise detailed concerns about proposed schedule changes
Summary
At the Feb. 25 Lorain City Schools board meeting, an elementary staff member and others raised multiple concerns about a proposed shift in daily start/end times, focusing on impacts to preschool, encore programming, substitute coverage, working parents and student behavior.
An elementary staff member told the Lorain City Schools Board of Education on Monday that proposed changes to the district's daily start and end times could create significant problems for preschool students, classroom coverage and working parents.
"Will preschool get a 45 minute encore every day? Will encore be trained to work with preschool?" the staff member asked during public comment, and later listed additional concerns including substitute availability when paraprofessionals call off, potential increases in appointments-related absences, and the effect of later start times on younger students' focus in the afternoon.
The staff member said elementary teachers already manage multiple required meetings and interventions'RTI, ETR, IEPs'as well as multiple subject areas and large class sizes (25 in K'2, up to 28 in grades 3'5). They argued that moving to longer days without compensating adjustments could disproportionately affect elementary staff and families who need before- and after-school care.
Board members did not take a formal vote on changing start or end times at Monday's meeting. The staff member asked the board to delay any decision until surveys and further study are completed and to release the 2025'26 school calendar; the transcript shows the calendar for 2025'26 had not been provided at the time of the meeting.
Board members and other speakers clarified a related question about the board service fund discussed earlier in new business: the transcript records the board's cap for that fund as $20,000 and references a $2 per-student minimum formula, but did not show a new vote on the fund amount at the Feb. 25 meeting.
The public comment period that included the staff member's remarks ran through a series of specific operational questions the board may need to address if it advances schedule changes'including training for encore staff to work with preschool, formal plans for substitute coverage, and the potential need for district-supported before/after care for staff and families.
The board did not announce a timeline for a decision at the meeting. Several speakers urged the board to complete surveys, gather more data and consider tabling any schedule change until the district provides clearer information to staff and families.
