School Union 76 Considers Early Release Fridays

DEER ISLE (NEWS CENTER) -- School Union 76 is considering letting students out an hour earlier on Fridays so teachers can have professional development time.

Teachers in School Union 76, which consists of Deer Isle, Stonington, Brooklin, and Sedgewick, have been participating in a program known as Professional Learning Communities. The program allows teachers to come together and critique each others teaching techniques. Right now, teachers are finding time during the school day to meet. They would like to set aside time on Friday afternoons. School Union 76 Superintendent Bob Webster says he knows some parents will have concerns about childcare during that one hour a week.

"We would hope that because of doing it on a Friday afternoon, that many families have activities that are planned for the weekend and those sorts of things, that it would have less of an impact than say a late start on a weekday" Webster told NEWS CENTER.

The Union 76 school board is expected to vote on the issue in January. The Union already has seven teacher workshop days. Those days are used for accreditation and curriculum work, not for professional learning communities. The Ellsworth school system already lets students out an hour early on Fridays for teacher professional development.