Springdale board OKs early-out plan

School to end sooner on Wednesdays in fall

SPRINGDALE — Students will get out of school 80 minutes early on Wednesdays starting in August as part of a plan to give teachers more time for collaborative professional development and improve academic achievement.

School Board members on Tuesday voted unanimously in favor of early-out Wednesdays. The board discussed the option during a work session April 6.

Students won’t lose any instructional time due to the changes, and in some cases instructional time will increase, according to Marcia Smith, associate superintendent for curriculum, instruction and innovation.

Students will go to school 10 minutes longer on the other four days of the week, for a total of 40 minutes, to help make up for the difference, Smith said. The other 40 minutes a week will come from time teachers were already spending in collaborative team meetings and other adjustments to the schedule, she said. The length of teacher contract days will remain the same.

Springdale schools have hosted professional learning communities and collaborative team meetings for some teachers for about eight years, Smith said. Professional learning communities give teachers the opportunity to work collaboratively, focusing on student achievement and data that shows which kids are learning and which need more support, she said.

“All that time we were doing PLC [professional learning communities] light and our intention is to do PLC right,” she said.

Core elementary school teachers will go from some having approximately 45 minutes a week of collaborative team meeting time to 80 minutes a week. Elementary encore teachers, who teach subjects such as art, music and physical education, will go from having no collaborative time to having 80 minutes a week. Middle, junior high and high school teachers will go from some teachers having one collaborative team meeting a day and some having no collaborative time to all teachers having 80 minutes of collaborative time a week.

The changes will allow every single teacher to learn, grow and get better at their craft, Smith said. When teachers work collectively, all staff members can have an impact on core subjects such as math and reading, no matter what they teach, she said.

“This will have a dramatic impact on student achievement,” she said.

Early-out Wednesdays will allow peers to work together instead of being isolated, said Superintendent Jared Cleveland. Teachers can work like a clinical team, similar to a medical team, to support students, he said.

“This is an opportunity to push forward and improve our academic achievement, and we can do that for all our kids,” Cleveland said.

Parents can pick their students up at the earlier dismissal time on Wednesdays or students can ride the bus, Smith said. After-school programs for students in elementary and middle school have agreed to begin earlier on Wednesdays at no extra cost to parents, she said. The additional time will also give students a chance to go to appointments without missing school, she said.

A survey of 3,936 parents, students and staff shows 70% of parents, classified employees and certified employees were either neutral, agreed or strongly agreed with implementing early-out Wednesdays, Smith said. A total of 85% of students were neutral, agreed or strongly agreed with the schedule change, she said.

“Being an educator is an incredibly difficult job,” said Shannon Tisher, assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction and innovation for grades eight through 12. “Every educator should be allowed to collaborate and grow together.”

“If we can get staff and administration more professional learning that will benefit our kids, then that’s what we need to do,” said board member Kevin Ownbey.

Springdale Public Schools is the largest school district in the state, with nearly 22,000 students and approximately 3,000 staff members.