Students who need additional time will be able to come in on the extra day for small group instruction, remediation, and intervention.

Yes. All full time staff will be at work and available those days and all special education services will be offered as required by the state and needed for the student. The IEP is an individualized education plan and the ARD committee will determine what services that each student will need to make meaningful progress. The department and therapists will be collaborating to look at a variety of service delivery models and services. A similar process will be conducted with regard to reading instruction through the dyslexia specialists. Under the 4-day school week, the students will be attending school the required hours outlined in the student attendance guidelines, so services will be determined based on the ARD committees’ recommendation for each student to make meaningful progress. There will have to be adjustments made according to the minutes of the day under the 4-day school week. The Special Education ARD teams will work to prioritize meetings to be held during the students’ day off, but there will be meetings that will be held when school is in session. The department will develop a plan to ensure there is a balance, so we are in compliance with required timelines. Each year, the Special Education department analyzes staffing needs and determines if additional staff in a variety of areas are needed. This staffing plan may include various positions including behavior and academic support based on need. After collaborating with surrounding districts who have transitioned to the 4-day instructional week, the consensus is that the additional day off each week takes a lot of stress off the students who struggle in school.

Parents will need to plan accordingly like they currently do for days that are scheduled student holidays.  Given this a shift in the entire community, we are confident that our local childcare providers will be able to assist families with this change.  Many discussions have already been had with district administration and these entities, including the Boys & Girls Club.

Yes

We are working on this with Child Nutrition and the USDA through grants to see our options.

Both options will be available.

We understand that a longer day for our youngest learners could be an issue. We will make scheduling adjustments within the learning day as needed.

No. Students will have the required amount of instructional time required by the state. The additional day without instruction does not equate to less instructional time overall and therefore will not increase homework assigned.