Week 21: The Winter Season, Part 2

Happy Friday!

Thank you for your patience as we were day-to-day this week in determining whether or not to have school. I know this left some of you in a lurch because you travel more than a few miles to get to work every day. I want to thank those who came in each day that could to take care of various chores and check out the buildings. Other than the inability to continue student learning, no other problems arose from this winter storm.

The week’s Wrap-up will have very little in it regarding the events of the week so I will use it to remind all of you about why we have the current calendar and what to consider as we choose next year’s calendar.

Calendar Information

During the last legislative session, Act 688 was passed giving schools the option to design their academic calendar around 1,068 hours of instruction instead of the traditional 178 days. Seeing that Mena Public Schools had a regular school day length that went well above 1,068 hours for the year, we saw the opportunity to make changes that would benefit students and teachers.

During the push over the last decade for PLCs to be used in education, the point has been made over and over about research indicating that when teachers collaborate and plan together on students’ behalf, the students benefit academically even more than added days of instruction. There is also some research suggesting that more collaboration time increases teacher job satisfaction, retention, innovativeness, and feeling prepared.

According to the Thought Exchange results at the beginning of the year, our assumptions were mostly correct. Our district goals data indicate close to the same results for students as we trend in the right direction, except for our attendance goal. Our absences did drop another tenth of a percent last week and our on-grade-level reading report to the board in January was a really good one. There is still much work to do but our calendar design was intended to help facilitate our overall school improvement.

This week’s weather has shown us the downside to our calendar. When we told the state we would use an alternative calendar one of their rules was that we could not use AMI for days we have to close the school. Our anticipation was that we had enough hours “in the bank” so to speak that we would be alright. Well, after yesterday’s closure and assuming we will not have to close anymore, we will be short about four hours of instruction at the end of the year. So, I will be discussing with the district leadership PLC the possibility of making up this time on one of the non-instructional days we still have left in the calendar instead of extending the school year to May 25th. We have February 20th scheduled as a non-instructional day and that would be the first on my mind to change, but we will consider all of the ramifications before doing so. Also, keep all of these things in mind when voting on the 2023-2024 calendar next week.

Another point that should be made about our calendar is that the schools that are using the traditional calendar, even though they are allowed to use AMI days, are not finishing the year any sooner than we are. In fact, some are completing the year at a later date. The state department made a ruling that since traditional calendars consist of 178 days of student interaction, AMI would be allowed. We know the many problems that come with using AMI to count the school day and did not feel that our students would be missing out without AMI as an option and I still believe that the alternative calendar is a better choice for students and staff. Making February 20th an instructional day is much better than adding a day at the end of May.

Legislative

The Governor’s big educational reform bill has still not been released. Thank you for more comments on Governor Sanders’ LEARNS initiative. Here is a link to what has been commented thus far and a link to the Thought Exchange for any new remarks you have. I am also providing a list of newly added bills of interest.

* HB1323 - Creates a child mental health screening program in schools and childcare facilities for birth through age 19.

* HB1333 - Amends the definition of a student under the AR concurrent challenge scholarship program. Includes students in grades 9-12 instead of 11-12. If this passed it will start the four-year Pell Grant clock earlier if a student uses the scholarship as a ninth grader. This may also become a problem if courses paid for with this scholarship do not transfer to the four-year institution and all scholarship funds are expended.

* HB1329 - Creates a means by which public school students may substitute comparable elective coursework in CTE for a required core academic class.

Closing

Next week, February 6 through 10, is National School Counseling Week in Arkansas. We have a tremendous team of counselors here at Mena Public Schools and I thank all of them for all the things they do for us and our community! Thank you, Mrs. Chaney, Mrs. Thacker, Mrs. Rose, Mrs. Lyle, and Mr. Walston!

Have a great weekend and even though Phil saw his shadow, let us hope for no more winter weather!

At Mena Public Schools our students are prepared, our staff is supported, and our community is confident.