Nebraska Family Forum

It is the Mission of the Nebraska Family Forum (NFF) to promote education policies in our state that preserve and protect parental authority and the integrity of the family. In so doing, we will preserve the cooperative and respectful relationship between school authorities and parents, preserve a family-centered community, and provide a well-rounded education for our kids.

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Extended school hours harm children and families

The Omaha Public School board is considering extending the school day by a significant amount of time--20 to 25 minutes per day--keeping the youngest students in school until after 4:00 PM.

It is the position of the Nebraska Family Forum that children do not need to spend even more time sitting at a desk. They need rest, they need play, and most importantly, they need family time. Keeping these kids away from their parents longer, in a forced "learning" environment, will not make them "smarter" and certainly won't make them happier, more productive or more successful young people. It will also not solve the problem of poverty, which is the single most important factor in the educational achievement gap. All it will do is make children more tired, more stressed, and more distant from their families.

If the OPS board approves these changes, children who ride a bus could have almost a 10 hour day, longer than an adult work day. And once that 10 hour day is over, there is still homework to be done. This expansion of the school day is not only unnecessary, it's harmful. What about fun activities such as soccer, baseball, or piano lessons? What about religious education? What about time with mom and dad? And what about sleep?

If OPS parents are concerned about this continued encroachment into family time, it is imperative to 1) E-mail each OPS board member and express your concerns and 2) ATTEND THE BOARD MEETING ON MONDAY, JUNE 15 AT 5:30 PM TO SPEAK AGAINST THESE CHANGES. If you don't take this opportunity to make your voice heard, these changes could be passed tomorrow and implemented this August.

If anyone would like assistance with organizing a response from OPS parents, writing a statement to the board, or preparing a short speech, members of the NFF are ready and willing to help. Please send an e-mail to [email protected].

Brenda Vosik, Director
Nebraska Family Forum

2 comments:

UnknownJune 15, 2015

For some families this is true. Unfortunately, for some it is not. For the majority of families in OPS it is best that the kids are in school instead of in their home environment. It's very sad. Some kids are not fed, most of these kids are unsupervised when they get home because there is no father and the mom has to work 2 or 3 jobs. There isn't anyone home to cook for them, clean, watch siblings, get a warm dinner ready, read them bedtime stories or tuck them in bed. For some families this is a better option because their home life is a joke. School is a much safer and more structured place. These kids aren't always sitting at a desk. The longer school day will allow for an extra supervised recess, more PE time, longer lunch times instead of just a 15 minute lunch. For most kids in OPS this is a good thing. An extra 25 minutes added on to a day isn't going to make that much difference in their home and family life. Some students don't want to go home and are happy to come to school because it is a safe warm place to be. In some cases it is a reprieve from the chaotic-drugged-out home life. So for a majority of the children in OPS the longer school day is a good thing.
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1. UnknownJune 16, 2015
  
  I am sure that this could be beneficial for families in such situations as you describe. However, I think it would be much more beneficial to the rest of society to design programs to accommodate those needs rather than force every family into the same system. I can not imagine that every family in OPS needs to have longer days at school. What about after-school activities? What about being home (for those who have a home, I guess)?
  
  Plus, I am pretty sure the Board did not tell the schools to give that extra time to the students in the form of recess and extra lunch minutes. Maybe some kids will get that, but there is no guarantee when it is being dictated to them by a governing board who seems to be interested in more study time and increasing test scores.
  
  In general, I would be very careful about making blanket statements about how "for a majority of the children in OPS, the longer school day is a good thing."
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The Personal Impact of Nebraska's School Attendance Law

We began collecting stories in April of 2011 and will continue to collect them as long as the law is abused. The stories we have collected demonstrate how our community has been impacted by Nebraska's school attendance law that counts all absences rather than "unexcused" absences for purposed of "truancy".

It may seem by the district by district breakdown that the law has impacted Millard Public Schools the most, but it is important to note that the Nebraska Family Forum grew out of the Millard Parent Society and therefore the awareness within Millard Public Schools is longstanding.

Out of the 3000+ cases referred to the Douglas County Attorney last year only 400 came from MPS. For every story collected here it is reasonable to assume that they represent dozens more who are affected who have not written their thoughts in a public way.

Nebraska Family Forum: What we Stand For

Mission:

NFF Guiding Principles:

Family is Key: We believe the family is the single most important element to a child’s ability to learn and be successful in school and life, and parents are the foundation upon which family success rests. For this reason, it’s imperative that the state honor the authority of parents as they exercise their natural rights, obligations, and responsibilities to raise, manage, direct, and educate their children.

Freedom in Education is essential: We believe that flexibility in education, school choice, stimulating curriculum, quality teachers, and innovative education reforms are essential to a family centered education. We support policies that will lead to greater parental influence in education innovation, curriculum, and choice.

Family struggles are a healthy part of life: We believe that the fundamental right of a parent does not cease to exist simply because a parent may fail to be a model parent. Parents often struggle to meet the needs of their children, but this is not in itself sufficient cause for unwanted and unwarranted government intrusion into family life. We join with Father Steven Boes of Boys Town in "proclaiming that not only are there no bad boys, as Father Flanagan taught, but there are no bad families.” There is always at least one person in a family that wants what is best for their children and is willing to ask for and receive the help they need.

Government Intrusion can be Harmful: We believe that the right of parents to raise their children without undue government interference is a fundamental liberty that has long been protected by the Constitution of the United States and is not void upon the enrollment of ones child in a public school. We warn that governments who seek to micro-manage the everyday choices of parents in pursuit prescribed outcomes, will do great harm to the integrity of the family and by extension, the well-being of children and society as a whole.

The Simple Truths

Children have to be educated, but they have also to be left to educate themselves. ~ Ernest Dimnet

Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught. ~ Oscar Wilde

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. ~ William Butler Yeats

Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another. ~ Gilbert K. Chesterton

Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten. ~ B. F. Skinner

Education... has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading. ~ G. M. Trevelyan

Every educated person is a future enemy. ~ Martin Bormann

I prefer the company of peasants because they have not been educated sufficiently to reason incorrectly. ~ Michel de Montaigne

In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards. ~ Mark Twain

It is a thousand times better to have common sense without education than to have education without common sense. ~ Robert Green Ingersoll

Much education today is monumentally ineffective. All too often we are giving young people cut flowers when we should be teaching them to grow their own plants. ~ John W. Gardner

No man who worships education has got the best out of education... Without a gentle contempt for education no man's education is complete. ~ Gilbert K. Chesterton

Real education must ultimately be limited to men who insist on knowing, the rest is mere sheep-herding. ~ Ezra Pound

The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives. ~ Robert M. Hutchins

The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education. ~ Albert Einstein

To the uneducated, an A is just three sticks. ~ A. A. Milne

Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school. ~ Albert Einstein

The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next. ~ Abraham Lincoln

My mother said I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy. That some people, unable to go to school, were more educated and more intelligent than college professors. ~aya Angelou

Dad kept us out of school, but school comes and goes. Family is forever.

I hated school. Even to this day, when I see a school bus it's just depressing to me. The poor little kids. ~ Dolly Parton

True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country. ~ Kurt Vonnegut

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Sunday, June 14, 2015

Extended school hours harm children and families

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