FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Fayetteville Public Schools Board of Education unanimously approved to amend the 2023-2024 school year by adding 35 minutes to the school day starting Feb. 5.
Due to the Arkansas LEARNS Act, which took effect in July 2023, and several snow days, school districts have been contemplating how to make up snow days.
LEARNS says a public school district must be open for on-site, in-person instruction for at least 178 days, or 1068 hours to get funding from the state for teachers' salaries.
At the Fayetteville Public Schools (FPS) board meeting on Jan. 25, Claire Wilkinson, the superintendent's general counsel, presented a revised school calendar that would add 35 minutes to the school day for grades 5 through 12. Elementary schools will not be impacted by this change.
Before the board meeting last Friday, Wilkinson worked with both the Classified and Certified Personnel Policies Committees (PPC) in order to decide which calendar plan to implement for the remainder of the school year.
The two options included:
- Attend school on President's Day and add 30 minutes every day starting Feb. 5.
- Reserve President's Day and add 35 minutes starting Feb. 5.
According to Wilkinson, a survey was sent to the PPC members where 88.9% voted for the 35-minute option. They had also requested to swap a day off in April for the eclipse on April 8.
President’s Day and Eclipse Day will now serve as backup inclement weather days in case the district needs to make up additional snow days.
New dismissal times:
- Middle schools: 3:15 p.m.
- Junior highs: 4 p.m.
- High school: 4:05 p.m.
Certified PPC member Andrew Young said the groups decided it was the best option because it gives “teachers time back in the classroom before these big state tests and big AP exams are coming.”
Young also said many people have already started making summer plans because make-up days haven't been an issue in the last three years.
"We had COVID and then we had AMI for two years and so really haven't had to deal with this a whole lot,” Young said.
Board President Nika Waitsman raised concerns about students who have prior after-school commitments, like jobs and extracurriculars.
“There are certainly those where it might create a hardship, so what we will be directing our building leaders is to work with those employees and families that have unique situations and we will find a solution,” Superintendent John Mulford said.
Following the board's approval of the amended calendar, the PPC groups are required to vote for an immediate implementation due to a change in personnel policy mid-year.
While obtaining approval from the PPC groups, they will also need to submit a waiver to ask the state to waive the law that requires Fayetteville schools to have a calendar in place by July 1.
The commissioner told Mulford that the school doesn't have to wait for the waiver to go through with the state in order to implement the change on Feb. 5.
“As long as you got your PPC blessing, the state will approve it,” Mulford said.
If the PPC members don’t vote for immediate implementation, the policy won’t go into effect until July 1 and would be irrelevant to the current school year.
“If the PPC groups do not vote to immediately implement it, then we would be staying with our current calendar and we would be using the makeup days plus going into that next week in June,” Wilkinson said.
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