My Name is Dr. Trudy Jermanovich.
Having been a teacher in Broward before and after the initiation of early release days, I can give some perspective on why they were implemented and why teachers believe they still are important. With the advent of testing and other mandatory requirements including additional training, teachers simply do not have the time to be able to complete everything during a regular school day. These half days were initiated to mitigate these circumstances, especially during the critical report card time. Overburdening teachers exacerbates reasons for more teachers to leave the profession.
Recently, many teachers have also had to take on a second job because the State has not provided funding to even adequately keep up with rising costs, especially in rent, insurance, and general inflation. For these reasons, I believe you should NOT reopen negotiations on the MOU to take away these important days for the 2025-2026 School Year.
I also believe that the calendar has always been a difficult task for this district. Everyone has their wants and needs and the district must not just do a calendar for teachers but all other employees as well. If you want to consider changes for the 2026-2027 calendar, you could start those discussions now. Do not go back and create chaos again by reopening calendar discussions which have already been approved.
Eliminating early release days would not be beneficial. This past school year was a perfect example of that, with severe weather days and cancelling schools, last minute changes were made to our already implemented school calendar. Eliminating days from already established breaks to "make-up" weather days is not a viable solution. Having the early release days in place provides a simple solution of extending the days to make up for severe weather day school closures. Students have also expressed looking forward to early release days. Additionally, having these early release days allows staff to ensure all paperwork is completed at a timely manner in FOCUS. This change has slowed down those members with ESE students, FOCUS is appearing to be non ESE friendly for at this time.
I hope this meting agenda item is voted down. Early release days are beneficial for many reason. As we saw this year, the calendar had to be rearranged due to hurricane make up days, which early release could have served to assist with this makeup in time instead of having to change the end of quarter 2/semester 1. Early release days can be enriching days for students and used a club days to further develop student learning in another manner. They also serve to assist teachers and ESE team member to provide time for trainings or end of quarter duties (e.g. progress reports completion time). Early release days are important for many more reason as well, so I hope they are not taken away again next year.
My Name is Dr. Trudy Jermanovich.
Having been a teacher in Broward before and after the initiation of early release days, I can give some perspective on why they were implemented and why teachers believe they still are important. With the advent of testing and other mandatory requirements including additional training, teachers simply do not have the time to be able to complete everything during a regular school day. These half days were initiated to mitigate these circumstances, especially during the critical report card time. Overburdening teachers exacerbates reasons for more teachers to leave the profession.
Recently, many teachers have also had to take on a second job because the State has not provided funding to even adequately keep up with rising costs, especially in rent, insurance, and general inflation. For these reasons, I believe you should NOT reopen negotiations on the MOU to take away these important days for the 2025-2026 School Year.
I also believe that the calendar has always been a difficult task for this district. Everyone has their wants and needs and the district must not just do a calendar for teachers but all other employees as well. If you want to consider changes for the 2026-2027 calendar, you could start those discussions now. Do not go back and create chaos again by reopening calendar discussions which have already been approved.
I would like you to vote yes on this agenda item to have only
one Early Release Day on February 14, 2026, for school-based staff and students.
Eliminating early release days would not be beneficial. This past school year was a perfect example of that, with severe weather days and cancelling schools, last minute changes were made to our already implemented school calendar. Eliminating days from already established breaks to "make-up" weather days is not a viable solution. Having the early release days in place provides a simple solution of extending the days to make up for severe weather day school closures. Students have also expressed looking forward to early release days. Additionally, having these early release days allows staff to ensure all paperwork is completed at a timely manner in FOCUS. This change has slowed down those members with ESE students, FOCUS is appearing to be non ESE friendly for at this time.
I hope this meting agenda item is voted down. Early release days are beneficial for many reason. As we saw this year, the calendar had to be rearranged due to hurricane make up days, which early release could have served to assist with this makeup in time instead of having to change the end of quarter 2/semester 1. Early release days can be enriching days for students and used a club days to further develop student learning in another manner. They also serve to assist teachers and ESE team member to provide time for trainings or end of quarter duties (e.g. progress reports completion time). Early release days are important for many more reason as well, so I hope they are not taken away again next year.