School districts announce changes to schedule after walkout
Extra time needed to make up for missed days during teacher walkout
Several Yuma County school districts have announced their plans to make up missed instructional time due to a six-day statewide walkout to protest education funding.
Yuma Elementary School District One says it has enough minutes to meet the state’s requirements without extending the school calendar.
“We have been working with our State Reporting Specialists to evaluate each school’s schedule of instructional minutes relative to the Arizona Department of Education requirements,” Superintendent Jamie Sheldahl wrote in an email to the Yuma Sun on Friday. “According to their calculations, all District 1 schools will have met the minimum requirement for instructional minutes with room to spare, by the last day of school, without adding additional days for students.”
The district wrote in a note to parents Friday afternoon that promotion ceremonies would not need to be changed, that Mondays would continue to be “early-release days” and that students would not need to make up days.
That’s because the district builds some “padding” into its required instructional minutes in the event of emergencies, the district said in its note, such as was the case when Gila Vista Junior High and C.W. McGraw schools were closed earlier this year due to an arson fire at a new apartment complex being built along Arizona Avenue.
Other school districts will continue classes with a few modifications.
Gadsden Elementary District will have “full” days on Monday, May 7, and on Monday, May 14. Mondays are usually the district’s “early-release” days, the district said in a release to local media. The district said that it will continue to review its plans and will update them as needed. Parents were advised to check the district’s website, School Messenger and other officials means of communication.
Due to the closures, Yuma Union High School District modified its daily schedule to make up missed instructional time, the district said in a news release. Those modifications do not include adding extra days to the school year.
YUHSD said its next two Mondays, May 7 and May 14, will be full days, not “early release” days. The district’s final week of school will include two regular bell schedules and two early dismissal days, as originally planned. Monday, May 21, and Tuesday, May 22, will have regular bell schedules, while Wednesday, May 23, and Thursday, May 24, will have early dismissal times. Each campus will notify students and parents of their specific schedules for early release on those final days of school.
As far as graduation ceremonies, the district is not changing the day or the times. Graduation will take place as regularly scheduled on May 25 at Cibola, Gila Ridge, Kofa, San Luis and Yuma high schools, and May 23 for Vista Alternative High School.
The districts explicitly noted that diplomas will not be withheld or issued “blank.”
The Crane Elementary District governing board met earlier this week and voted to extend that one of its school’s calendar into June. Students at Ronald Reagan Elementary will attend school June 1 and June 4 in order for teachers to make up days on their contracts.
Crane Board President Brenna Paulin said that the board applied to the state for students to be excused on those two days.
The resolution passed at Tuesday’s special meeting says, in part, “The Governing Board authorizes the Superintendent to apply to the Arizona Department of Education for approval of an amendment of the District’s school year calendar and to excuse student absences during the days of the school closure.”
“We do know that it will be probably a low number of students that attend that day because a lot of families had other plans just like they were saying,” Superintendent Laurie Doering said after the special meeting.
Extending the calendar is “more about the 180 contract days for the teachers,” Paulin said.
Somerton Schools are still reviewing their data, the district said on its Facebook page. A decision will be made at the district’s governing board meeting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday (May 8). The meeting is at the district’s offices at 343 N. Carlisle Ave.