Groton - Nancy Gilly said her middle school daughter didn't have a class schedule until Thursday, the third day of classes.

She said she was unhappy with her daughter's exploratory class schedule.

"This will be her third year of hand sewing," she said, referring to one of six non-core classes that middle school students can explore. "She takes cello, and there's no orchestra."

Gilly was among several parents who told the board of education at its meeting Monday night that the start of the middle school was fraught with disorganization. They said most students didn't have schedules until they arrived at school on Tuesday.

"It wasn't the staff's fault either," Melissa Watson said. "They didn't have the schedules until the last minute. How can I feel confident about his education if the teachers have no clue what's going on?"

Beth Reinhold, who teaches at Charles Barnum Elementary School but has a child in middle school, said the start of the school year should have been planned better.

"It's been a week now, and there is still some confusion," she said. "Children have spent a lot of time watching DVDs, and they're not academic."

In a telephone interview Tuesday, Superintendent of Schools Paul Kadri took responsibility for the dilemma. He said schedule changes were made late in the summer that improved the educational offerings, including some advanced classes that were not previously offered.

He said he did not publicize the changes because he thought that would have caused more confusion for the parents.

"I made the decision to not to advertise them," he said. "I should have told the parents ahead of time, 'There are changes to your children's schedules that I will explain after you get them so you will see what I'm talking about.' I made a communication mistake."

Kadri said he still intends to provide a detailed explanation of the schedules.

c.potter@theday.com