Association board members Have schedule concerns 

A survey of day care providers found that most of them are undecided or indifferent on the issue of altering the Albert Lea Area Schools’ calendar to have a short summer vacation and more breaks.

Board members of the Freeborn County Day Care Association called providers within the Albert Lea school district. It amounted to 46 providers who care for 683 children.

“It affects a lot of children, what they are planning to do,” said board member Debbie Baas.

The results found 14 against the proposal, 12 in favor and 20 who were undecided or think it “doesn’t matter.”

The four board members the Tribune interviewed also wanted school board members to note that large day care organizations, such as The Children’s Center, don’t necessarily speak on behalf of in-home day care providers.

Baas, Linda Christian, Starr Holt and Robin Helgerson said parents typically are accustomed to two enrollments for day care — summer and school year. With more breaks, it will create problems in making arrangements for child care.

For instance, with spring break proposed to last two weeks, where will the extra children go? They said the state, through their licenses, caps their capacities. With a one-week break, some families go on vacation, freeing up spots. But with two weeks, that won’t be possible.

Superintendent Mike Funk said the district is working with Community Education, Albert Lea Family Y and the city to develop opportunities for students during breaks.

Baas said she felt the school survey, which found 62 percent of district residents in favor of the calendar proposal, didn’t do enough to ask parents.

“Parents don’t feel like they have a voice,” she said.

She added she feels like the calendar decision has already been made and the district administration and school board members are just jumping through hoops.

“People feel like it is being shoved at them, and they are not having a voice,” she said.

She wondered why Funk has done so much talking and the elected school board members have not been in front of the community. She noted city and county issues where the elected officials do the politicking.

“Individual board members have attended approximately a dozen meetings that I have spoken at to gauge community perception,” Funk said. “They have also met with many individuals throughout the community.  Our board is filled with independent professionals from all walks of life.”

He said he imagined considerable dialogue at the next two community forums.

Holt said she felt like smaller classrooms would be easier on people’s schedules and more effective than realigning the calendar.

“Do we want to change all of this for that tiny, tiny improvement when it hasn’t shown much for improvement,” she said.

Funk said the district already has some of the smallest class sizes on average in the state.

Baas said some families take vacations during the Minnesota State Fair. Would their children be out of school each and every year?

Funk said parents in Minnesota are allowed to excuse students 10 days a semester for personal reasons. If the students participate in the fair, they would be excused outside the 10-day rule.

Christian said she feels having breaks for special needs students could make getting back on track after longer breaks harder. And she worried about middle-of-the-road students not being challenged.

Baas said they want the community to know they understand change is hard and have an open minds to the options, noting the divided results of their survey. They do have concerns, though.

“We have never run into anything that has caused an upset so many people in the community at-large,” she said.

Helgerson said she worries about the loss of valuable quality time during long summer days.

“This is Minnesota. All we have is summer,” she said.

Baas also said she fears a longer spring break will put additional stress on employees at Alliance Benefit Group, tax accounting places and other outfits dealing with the federal April 15 tax deadline.

Helgerson said she fears there will be more situations where older siblings are watching younger siblings or where more children are at home alone while their parents are working because “not everyone can afford child care.”

Funk said the district is seeking to create a better future for students.

“We are attempting to increase the education for all of our children,” he said.

Funk cited news about the Edina school board coming out in favor of starting school in 2015 prior to the state-mandated after-Labor Day start.

The Edina superintedent, Ric Dressen, said the board wants control of its calendar, rather than having the state control it.

He noted that the teachers’ union has supported the Albert Lea calendar proposal — independent of him. And he said he welcomes all opinions on the issue.

The second public hearing on the proposed calendar is at 7 p.m. Oct. 14 in the Albert Lea High School commons.