A mid-year change in the school schedule that takes effect Feb. 6 has local parents, principals and after-school program providers scrambling to deal with a school day that will be 10 minutes shorter for some students and as much as 50 minutes longer for others.

		The citywide change is the result of last year's contract agreement with the teachers' union, which requires teachers to put in an additional 150 minutes of classroom time per week. The time will be given to students who need extra help in math, reading and spelling, in groups with a maximum 10-to-1 student-to-teacher ratio. Last month the principals of P.S. 234, P.S. 89 and P.S.150 sent home letters and held meetings with parents to explain how the new schedule will work. P.S. 234 and P.S. 89 will change the dismissal time for the majority of students from 3:00 to 2:50. The rest of the students, about 25 percent of children in each school, will stay an additional 50 minutes on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. At P.S. 150 the extended day will run an extra 37 and a half minutes Monday through Thursday. "This is the kind of mandate no one likes," said Maggie Siena, principal of P.S. 150. "Two dismissals is not my idea of a good time."
Some students are mandated to stay for the extended day, based on test scores in grades 3 to 5 and on standard evaluations in the earlier grades. Teachers have also identified other students who have been "invited" to stay later. In most cases, the principals said, the students will be with their regular teachers. The Department of Education will provide two rounds of busing at an additional cost of $24 million citywide. The two dismissal times will be especially difficult for parents who have two children with two different pickup times. Allison McGuffin, a P.S. 234 parent whose 2nd-grader will be staying longer, is enrolling her kindergartner in the Manhattan Youth after-school program for 50 minutes. The schedule change is "a major pain," she said. "But on the other hand, this is fabulous. My kid needs help." While parents were happy about the extra help, they also have concerns about a stigma. Leslie Overton, parent of a first-grader at P.S. 89, said she worries about her daughter who will be staying late for reading help. "It could be she feels special, or she may ask, 'Why do I stay late and everyone else goes?' It remains to be seen what the psychological ramification will be." The change will also affect after-school classes. Manhattan Youth will start the program's clubs later in the day, offering a period of free time for games and other activities until the extended-day students are dismissed. Manhattan Youth will also lose classroom space that it used for after-school activities. "It's been very disruptive," said Theseus Roche, the after-school director. The parent of a P.S. 150 first-grader who will have an extended day said she was dropping her daughter's after-school tumbling class. "It's definitely a hassle for everyone," she said, adding, "I worry about her losing that physical time." Suellen Epstein, who runs Children's Tumbling, and Loretta Thomas, owner of Murray Street Dance School, both said they expected to lose students and that they may have to cut back the number of classes they offer. Some parents will not want their children to take a later class, they said, especially after a longer school day. "It's affected my income because I have to cancel classes," Epstein said. Principals at the three schools said there had been a mostly positive response from parents, and parents who were interviewed praised how their schools and principals were handling the changes. "I think Sandy [Bridges] and the teachers are doing a great job dealing with something not of their own making," said Bruce Cronin, father of a 3rd-grader at P.S. 234. But there was also criticism and concern about the program. Some parents wondered how much attention their child will get even in a smaller group if the kids all have different needs. Others complained about the majority of students losing 50 minutes a week of school time and about the changes coming out of a contract negotiation. "It wasn't an educational decision, it was a management-labor decision," said Cronin. It remains to be seen how the the new schedule's effectiveness will be measured, and if it will continue. "What happens in September, I have no idea," said Sandy Bridges, P.S. 234's principal. A parent of twins at P.S. 234, who will have one child staying late and one leaving early, said that she had faith in the school but that much remained unknown. "I think it will work out," said the mother, who asked not to be identified. "But I feel like this is a big experiment."