Yesterday 08/12/04 was the first day of school in Knox County, TN, when parents received all the paperwork yesterday to return to the school. Parents with children in grades 2,5,8 and 11 were greeted with a survey. Some interesting questions on the survey are
#25 My child would benefit from a balanced school calendar that includes a shorter summer break and more frequent breaks during the school year
#33 Students would benefit from a full day kindergarten program
#34 It would be more convenient to parents and students if the elementary school day started at 8:30 and the middle and high schools started at 7:45.
#35 Knox County should offer signing bonuses and incentive pay to attract and retain quality teachers.
#36 Teachers should receive incentive pay for doing an outstanding job as measured by their students’ acheivement test scores
#37 Knox County does not set a high enough funding priority for education
#41 I would be willing to pay additional county taxes to fund needed improvements in Knox County Schools
#42 Knox County Schools provides a good educational value for students and taxpayers alike
#43 The community respects teachers in our schools
#44 The Knox County School System makes wise use of the financial resources available
The answer options were
Strongly agree,Tend to agree, Tend to disagree, Strongly disgaree or Don’t Know
MARK ELMORE, TREASURER
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I have two comments. As regards to a shorter summer with more breaks during the school year, I would love to see us add a fall break. Loudon County schools have a fall break. They start school around 4 days prior to Knox County, but get a week off in October. It would be great to have this week to take a vacation when its cooler and the rates are lower.
The other comment is about school start time. It would be terrible for working parents if the elementary kids started school any later than 7:45. Older kids can get themselves to the bus stop for a later school start time, but working parents who have to be at work by 8:00 can’t hang around until 8:30 to take their elementary school kids to school. And a lot of daycares don’t offer drop offs at school. Leave things as they are.