Feeder district irked by District 94's late-start days

One of the feeder elementary school districts for West Chicago High School is taking issue with the high school's decision to add nearly two dozen late-start days to next year's school calendar.

Two members of West Chicago Elementary District 33 attended Tuesday's District 94 school board meeting to protest the addition of 21 late-start days.

The class days on Monday will begin nearly two hours later than the rest of the week, beginning at 10:01 a.m. Teachers will use that time for staff development, focusing particularly on bolstering the school's teaching of special education students, school board President Tony Reyes said.

The high school's teachers association has taken no position on the additional late start days, which the school board narrowly approved last month.

Sue Stibal, a member of the District 33 school board, said Tuesday she was worried about the instructional time that was being lost at the high school and how it would impact students.

"How are you going to measure (the) success of the additional training time?" Stibal asked.

Stibal also chided school officials for not informing District 33 of the upcoming vote, arguing the late start days would impact the elementary district's own bus routes and the rates they will have to pay next year.

West Chicago High Principal Moses Cheng disputed both claims, saying all elementary school feeder districts were notified of the plans by District 94 to vote on adding the late start days.

Cheng also claimed he had called Laidlaw, the school bus service for both school systems, and personally verified the new schedule wouldn't financially impact District 33.

Katrina Maguire, another District 33 board member who stressed Tuesday she was speaking as a parent and not as a school official, also questioned the value of the lost classroom time with students.

In addition to the 21 additional late-start days school officials approved last month, next year's school calendar will still include the eight late-start days already in its calendar.