Another Chicago Public School — this time an elementary school in Englewood — has voted to add 90 minutes to their school day.
Teachers at Benjamin E. Mays Elementary Academy in Englewood took the vote this morning.
After three schools voted for the change last week, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard announced this week that they would offer incentives to all schools districtwide that decided to lengthen their school day this year. Schools willing to change to a new schedule in September would receive $150,000 and teachers would get a bonus of $1,250. Schools changing their schedule in January would receive $75,000 and teachers at those schools would receive $800.
To add more time to the school day, a majority of teachers at the school have to approve the change in schedule.
At Mays, 838 W. Marquette Road, Principal Patricia McCann-Nicholes said 18 of her 22 teachers voted for a longer day. She said she was inspired by the three schools that first took the vote Friday, mulled over the idea over the long weekend and then presented it to her teachers on Tuesday. Most of her teachers — 75 percent of whom are tenured — are already working at the school till 5 p.m. with extracurricular programming run by Children Home and Aid.
“So the idea wasn’t a big leap for us,” she said. “For a long time now, many of us have felt we’re not giving children enough time to do our very best to present a quality curriculum. There’s not enough time in the day to get it done.”
The school’s 310 students do well on standardized tests — scoring 78 percent on composite scores on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test last spring. Of the four who voted against the longer day, two teachers have younger children and the other two live far from the school and are concerned about the distance and getting home later, McCann-Nicholes said.
