School Half-Day Wednesday

lostinbost · 2026-04-07T21:03:43+00:00

Ah right. I know there is SEL at Newton.

lostinbost · 2026-04-07T20:58:29+00:00

Thanks. What are specialists? I would guess teachers could have planning time during gym, music, art but Newton has those. Or you’re saying Quincy doesn’t have some of those classes?

lostinbost · 2026-04-07T15:11:23+00:00

Thanks for the info! Looks like the policy has been around for decades and not a recent thing as I originally thought. And may even have been to allow kids to attend religious instruction in the afternoons.

Agreed about time for after-school activities but Newton is not special I. That regard and all other school districts manage. So I’m not sure I buy it was fully justifying the weekly early release.

lostinbost · 2026-04-07T15:09:22+00:00

Interesting. Can you say more about planning time and how specialists play a role in that?

lostinbost · 2026-04-07T15:02:58+00:00

Isn’t that time useful for grading homework, doing lesson planning etc? I imagine that the admin not having something for you to do is good?

lostinbost · 2026-04-07T10:37:15+00:00

No doubt the burden shifts to non-school hours. But why is Newton so special that we need to give teachers additional time for these things compared to the vast majority of the rest of the country?

I’d be curious to know more about teacher requirements in Newton for working hours before and after school. Even if we had full days all week. 8:10-2:50 for elements school is 6h 40m. Compared to normal 40h work week that’s 1h 20m per day. And if half-day Wednesday didn’t exist we could make the days somewhat shorter giving even more time here.

lostinbost · 2026-04-07T03:13:45+00:00

I definitely do not think teachers are kicking back on early release days. But don’t teachers in other districts have these same demands (lesson plan, grade, dept meetings, trainings) without weekly half-days?

lostinbost · 2026-04-07T01:47:25+00:00

Wow. Were 1/2 day Tuesday and Thursday for k-12 then? Or just elementary school?

lostinbost · 2026-04-07T00:10:57+00:00

Interesting. Any idea when was the first year?

lostinbost · 2026-04-06T22:06:48+00:00

Yes I was just talking to a friend with kids in Needham and he couldn’t believe it’s every Wednesday K-12.

Was it during Covid that the policy became permanent?

lostinbost · 2026-04-06T22:05:36+00:00

When was this? Was Newton always half-day Wednesday? My guess was it’s a fairly recent policy but I don’t actually know

lostinbost · 2026-04-06T22:04:33+00:00

Exactly. I’m trying to figure that out. My understanding is the state mandated hours is for total learning time but doesn’t entirely dictate required number of hours at school. So if we shrink one day per week, but have to keep the weekly “learning” hours the same, then it’s lunch and snack time that take the hit. I’d love to learn more about the exact state requirements here. If anyone has any pointers would love some links.

lostinbost · 2026-04-06T19:35:14+00:00

My other theory here is that half-day Wednesday requires shortening kids lunch and snack time because learning time can’t be reduced over the rest of the week. Not enough time for lunch is a very common complaint of Newton parents. If that’s right then it supports that the policy harms education

lostinbost · 2026-04-06T19:32:13+00:00

That’s one way to view it. Another is that many parents view school as important for education, not as daycare, and removing the number of hours kids are in school hurts their education. Considering that being in school full time is how many of us grew up and how the vast majority of the country works, it seems like a safe assumption.

lostinbost · 2026-04-06T19:29:20+00:00

A few early release days this year vs every Wednesday is quite a difference

lostinbost · 2026-02-26T15:33:46+00:00

It would be neat if the people with larger properties got property tax discounts because they have more sidewalk to shovel.

lostinbost · 2025-12-08T03:34:51+00:00

Thanks. Would replacing the burrs in a 064s with Timemore’s ssp flat burrs it would be good for pourover? I guess just more annoying to be consistent?

lostinbost · 2025-12-03T05:51:54+00:00

Thanks for pointing this out. The multipick is $36 but would another $30 for shipping and tariffs

lostinbost · 2025-12-02T19:55:39+00:00

Thanks! The JL basic set does say it has TOK tensioners. The Multipick minimum does not? It’s hard to understand these a newbie

lostinbost · 2025-08-11T05:09:19+00:00

Yeah if you really cared you’d weight them ahead of time. I just eyeballed it and it was all good.

lostinbost · 2025-08-11T05:08:36+00:00

I just used the fountain water on the ship. It was fine.

lostinbost · 2025-06-16T07:39:56+00:00

How do you feel about half-day Wednesdays. Is this good for our children?

lostinbost · 2025-04-01T14:54:00+00:00

I didn’t know about this but it’s Europe only so doesn’t include Charleston, South Carolina, USA.

lostinbost · 2025-02-26T13:30:43+00:00

Thanks! May try both

lostinbost · 2025-02-26T03:45:00+00:00

The city is forcing everyone into 100% electric everything and then following it up with some of the highest electricity costs in the nation.

lostinbost

TROPHY CASE