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Girard BOE OKs increase in open enrollment
Girard
In an attempt to combat the departure of students from the school district, the board of education has approved increasing the maximum number of students it accepts through open enrollment by 34.
The measure passed at Wednesday night’s meeting by a 4-0 vote.
The district has 96 open-enrollment slots, and 77 of those are filled. However, 12 of those will graduate this year.
It has lost 56 Girard district students to other schools through the open-enrollment program. An additional 43 regular- enrollment students moved out of the city.
“When you are losing that kind of money, you need to do something to bring it back,” Superintendent David Cappuzzello said Thursday at an informational meeting with parents at the high school.
The meeting was an open discussion on some of the changes Cappuzzello wants to make in the district for next school year, including a shift in the school start times.
The most dramatic changes would occur at the high-school and elementary levels.
The high-school class day would be from 8:15 a.m. to 3 p.m. instead of the current 7:30 a.m. to 2:20 p.m.
In the elementary school, the times would shift classes to run from 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. instead of the current time of 8:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Cappuzzello said there were studies that showed drastic improvement in grades, testing and tardiness in schools around the country that already had implemented the time change.
He said high-schoolers normally stay up late studying and used the extra time to sleep, while kindergarten students are ready to learn earlier.
But parents attending the meeting were concerned about the safety of children at the bus stop while it is still dark and the impact of pickup times if their child is being released an hour later or earlier than before.
Nancy Thomas, whose daughter is a single mother with two children in the district, said the time change could place more stress on single, working mothers particularly, who will have to find a place for their children if they can’t get off work.
“My daughter has to work,” Thomas said. “She doesn’t have the luxury of staying home.”
Thomas said often times she’ll pick up her grandchildren when her daughter cannot.
“Luckily, she has me,” Thomas said. “Most people don’t.”
Cappuzzello said if the time change takes effect, Girard would be the first district in the area to do so.
“We are the guinea pig,” he said. “There’s a lot of [other superintendents] watching to see if this does work.”