Some districts say the LEARNS Act eliminated flexibility for online instruction
by Antoinette Grajeda, Arkansas Advocate
Arkansas school districts are seeking unique ways to address inclement weather closures without using alternative methods of instruction (AMI) days, including requesting waivers to transition to an alternate calendar mid-year.
This month’s severe winter weather highlighted the LEARNS Act’s practical elimination of AMI days, which allow districts to offer virtual instruction when schools are closed for weather, disease outbreaks, or utility outages.
While the LEARNS Act did not repeal the law that created AMI days, it does require at least 178 days or 1,078 hours of “on-site, in-person instruction” to receive state funding that supports increasing the state’s minimum teacher salary from $36,000 to $50,000.
Following weeks of public discussion on the issue, the Arkansas Department of Education issued a memo Thursday with some guidance:
“Recognizing the significant impact of inclement weather on various districts across the state, resulting in the loss of recent instructional days, and following the communication to superintendents sent Friday, Jan. 19, this guidance aims to provide clarity and additional information on how schools may make up the time missed and best address the instructional needs of students through in-person instruction.”
ADE spokeswoman Kimberly Mundell said the memo was sent for awareness and the options outlined within it are not new.
One of the options is using a waiver to switch from a traditional 178-day calendar to an alternative calendar requiring 1,068 hours.
To use the waiver, districts must develop a revised calendar that reflects that 1,068 hours of in-person instruction will be provided during the 2023-2024 school year. The revised calendar, which must be approved by the local board and personnel policy committee, must be posted on the district’s website.
“While there is no specific deadline for the waiver request, we anticipate districts that plan to change their calendar option will notify ADE in the coming weeks,” Mundell said. “We will work with the State Board to expedite the approval process.”
Mundell noted the State Board of Education has decision-making authority over waivers, not ADE. No waivers had been received as of Friday.
The Fayetteville Public School District is pursuing the waiver, with the school board on Thursday approving a plan to switch the hours-based calendar and add 35 minutes to the school day for students in grades 5-12 starting Feb. 5.
Lengthening the school day will prevent the district from extending the academic year into the summer with makeup days, Executive Director of Communications and Public Relations Alan Wilbourn said.
The district had already been considering making the switch to an hour-based calendar in recent years, he said. In his 32 years with the district, Wilbourn said inclement weather has not always been a concern, but snow has become more consistent, including in 2014 when Fayetteville had 14 snow days.
“The state waived one of them and so we still had to go for 13 days,” he said. “So we were going until way up into June and those are not quality instruction days because families have made plans, staff members have made plans and everyone is just checked out in the first week of June. So it’s really hard. It’s not nearly an equivalent to a day of instruction in October.”
Elementary students will also follow the hours-based calendar, but they will not have 35 minutes added to each day. Wilbourn said elementary students already exceed the instructional time minimum because they don’t have additional time allotted for changing classes like older students.
The district’s Certified and Classified Personnel Policy committees gave final approval to the board-approved plan Friday, and Wilbourn said the district will submit the waiver request as soon as possible.
In a letter sent to staff and parents Friday afternoon, Superintendent John Mulford explained why the district took swift action.
“While we recognize this decision did not include the desired engagement level all of us would prefer, a decision had to be made and implemented quickly to gain the greatest amount of benefit from this change,” Mulford said. “The primary driver of this decision is recouping as much instructional time as possible prior to state testing by providing teachers and students with additional class time each day.”
Wilbourn said he appreciates the flexibility from ADE and noted the district will work with families impacted by longer school days.
“We realize that adding 35 minutes to the end of the day may cause some unique challenges for some families and we’ll work with you on those,” he said.
In addition to three make-up days after Memorial Day, the district has two holidays that can be used for make-up days if needed — President’s Day on Feb. 19 and the solar eclipse on April 8.
Districts using an alternate calendar are required by state law to incorporate a minimum of 30 make-up hours. Districts following a traditional calendar must incorporate five make-up days.
Barring any more snow days, Fayetteville School District would end the school year on May 24, Wilbourn said.
The Arkansas Advocate is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to tough, fair daily reporting and investigative journalism that holds public officials accountable and focuses on the relationship between the lives of Arkansans and public policy.
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