Bad budget puts Lynn’s extended-day plans on hold

LYNN – Plans to bring extended learning time to three Lynn elementary schools have been put on hold temporarily while administrators focus on keeping the school district afloat in a sea of budget trouble.Lynn Public Schools were awarded extended learning time planning grants for the Harrington, Ford and Connery elementary schools in 2007 and had originally intended to extend the school day in at least one of those schools, the Ford, this September.But a $6.5 million budget deficit has forced the district to cut jobs, close schools and reduce programs and, combined with the retirement of several administrators this school year, it should make for a busy summer for Superintendent Nicholas Kostan and his staff. Kostan Tuesday pointed to the budget as the primary reason for the delay in implementing the initiative, but said that the district is still planning to move forward with the planning grants.”It is really too much to handle at this time with the budget and everything else that is going on,” he said. “We are working on the program but we are probably about a year away, so we are looking at September of 2009.”For the Ford School, this is the second delay in the extended day initiative that was originally scheduled to begin there in 2007.The Department of Education awarded the Ford School with a $1.2 million planning grant in 2007, but the Lynn Teachers Union could not come to terms on a contract with the school district in time to implement the program.As a result, the district lost the grant and the Ford had to start from scratch with its extended day program and a new planning grant this year.Extended learning time programs are springing up in districts all over the state, and more are to follow as the state continues to fund the initiative on a yearly basis.In all, 18 schools in the state have implemented the initiative, which is designed to allow schools to start new programs, add additional professional development time and provide additional opportunity to study for the MCAS exams.Supporters of the initiative say that adding an additional 300 hours to the school year in Lynn will boost test scores and allow more time for teachers to collaborate and work one-on-one with students.The DOE approved funding for extended learning time at eight additional schools last week, including the Garfield Middle School and Whelan Elementary School in Revere.Both Gov. Deval Patrick and Education Commissioner Mitchell Dan Chester are supporters of the initiative, and eventually hope to implement extended learning time in all of the state’s schools.Negotiating new contracts with teachers is one of the largest obstacles that school districts encounter when proposing longer schools days, and the situation last summer between the Lynn Teachers Union and the school district ended up becoming an ugly feud that ultimately cost the district money and squashed plans to bring the program to the Ford.Both Kostan and Teachers Union President Alice Gunning indicated last year that they were in support of the initiative and vowed to work better together when the proposal hits the negotiating table a second time.