Hello Fairyland Parents,
So many of you have reached out to us to share your questions and concerns surrounding the new school start time at Fairyland next year. I first want to simply thank all of you for being willing to engage in advocating for your child. One of our goals with the upcoming Town Hall Meeting is that every parent at Fairyland feels they have a safe place where their questions can be heard and their opinions valued. You know your child better than anyone else, and I want to thank you for speaking up and giving your child and their needs a voice in this discussion.
Here are some facts that we have gathered so far:
1. Earlier this year, a survey was sent to all Walker County teachers and staff asking them to express their preference between two options of school calendars for the 2024-2025 year.
2. One calendar option was for 180 days of school. This option would keep all school hours the same as the current year.
3. The second calendar option was for 175 days of school. There was a small note under this option that said, “Five less student days will result in 15 minutes of additional instruction per day”
4. On February 13, 2024 the 175 day calendar was approved by the school board.
5. On March 1, 2024 an email was sent to Fairyland parents by Dr. Edwards stating that Fairyland Elementary would be adding 30 minutes of instructional time for the 2024-2025 school year.
6. Dr. Edwards stated in this email that Fairyland Elementary’s school hours would be changing to 7:30am-2:30pm next year.
We are very close to setting a date for the upcoming Fairyland Town Hall Meeting to discuss this issue. We have confirmed that the location of this meeting will be at the new Lookout Mountain City Hall building. At this point we have also confirmed that Fairyland’s School Board Representative (Karen Stoker) and the Mayor of Lookout Mountain GA (David Bennett) will also be attending this Town Hall Meeting. We are still waiting to hear back from a couple more people in key leadership positions before we finalize the date (For example, we are currently talking with someone from the Walker County Department of Transportation--who would be familiar with laws surrounding school bus schedules--to schedule a date that works for them to be able to attend this meeting as well)
Even though we do not have a final date set for the Town Hall Meeting yet, at this point we would like to go ahead and encourage all Fairyland parents to do three things:
1. We would like to request that parents please submit any questions that they would like answered at the Town Hall Meeting in advance. This will help us to prevent duplicate questions.
Here are examples of what the type of questions you could submit to us in advance might look like:
- Why is Fairyland adding 30 minutes to every school day when Walker County is only requiring 15 minutes?
- Would it be possible to add the extra 15 minutes next year to the end of the school day instead of the beginning?
Here is a link to where you can submit these questions to us in advance:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/B2Y6VBQ
2) If you have not already reached out to Dr. Edwards to share your questions and concerns about this decision with her directly, please do so now. Her email address is lisaedwards@walkerschools.org
3) Be respectful. Be humble. Be kind. Please do not engage in slander or gossip. Please do not express anger in ways that would be hurtful to anyone.
I am very hopeful that we can work together as a team and come up with creative solutions to do what is best for everyone involved in this important decision.
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me personally at my email address listed here: carapalmer.42@gmail.com
Thank you very much,
Cara Palmer