Category Archives: DeKalb County School District

Plan B – Make-Up Schedule

Posted on September 28, 2017 by | 18 comments

Stan Jester
DeKalb County
Board Of Education

DeKalb Schools Policy AEA gives the superintendent authority to unilaterally reschedule days missed due to inclement weather or other emergencies. Last Friday Superintendent Green availed himself of policy AEA and announced a plan to reclaim the 4 lost days due to Irma. The plan included extending the school day by 20 minutes until Winter Break.
The superintendent left the implementation of the 20 minute extension up to school house leadership. Dunwoody High School is on the block schedule and announced they would extend their first and last period by 10 minutes each. I’m curious to see what the other schools come up with.
Some of the Mega-Schools are using this time to help alleviate some of the logistical issues we’ve created by cramming a bunch of students into a school not designed to handle that kind of capacity. Lakeside HS is going to add time to their lunch period. Chamblee Charter HS is going to add some time to the transitional period between classes.
I’m not a fan of the extended day idea. I have 3 kids in 3 schools. We have been tweaking our schedule for the last 2 months and this extension blows that up. I provided my thoughts to the superintendent in an unsolicited email to him over the weekend recommending to reclaim the November 7 Election Day / Teacher Work Day and the February inclement weather day. Let the other two days go.
Note: Waivers and state law allow the school district to skip as many days as it sees fit.
Looks like the school district has initiated Plan B …

DeKalb County School District to adjust make-up days schedule following additional collaboration and outreach

DeKalb Schools News

From: DeKalb Schools Communications Department
The DeKalb County School District (DCSD) will adjust its make-up schedule for four days of lost instructional time due to Hurricane Irma, following both continuing collaboration between the Board of Education and Superintendent/CEO R. Stephen Green, and focused outreach to stakeholder groups.
DCSD will take the following steps to recover two of the lost instructional days:
• The school day will be extended by 20 minutes from Monday, Oct. 2 to Tuesday, Oct. 31
• Election Day (Tuesday, Nov. 7) will become an instructional day.
The district is now considering the most effective method to recover one or both of the remaining instructional days. To accomplish this, DCSD will seek input directly from its principals, parent groups and community stakeholder groups through Friday, Oct. 13.
That input will be strongly considered by Dr. Green in his final decision, to be announced on Monday, Oct. 16. Per Board policy, Dr. Green is empowered to make “scheduling changes to the school day because of inclement weather or other emergency conditions.”
“Throughout this process, I have been continually working with our Board to distill our various options into the best solution for our students and families. We considered various input and thoughts from across the board. The identification of two make-up opportunities thus far is a good starting point,” said Green. “The final decision will be filtered through a collaborative process driven by one shared desire for both the Board and myself: to protect and recover instructional time, especially for those students most at risk.”

18 Comments

Posted in DeKalb County School District

Make-Up Schedule – DeKalb Schools

Posted on September 22, 2017 by | 74 comments

DeKalb County School District to extend school days by 20 minutes from October 2 to December 20.

DeKalb Schools News Alert

In order to recapture precious instructional time lost due to Hurricane Irma, DeKalb County School District (DCSD) will extend its school day by 20 minutes, Monday through Friday, beginning Monday, Oct. 2, 2017, through the end of the first semester on Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2017.
DCSD schools and offices will also remain open on Election Day (Tuesday, Nov. 7) as the district ensures that students don’t miss out on lessons vital to their academic achievement.
Superintendent/CEO R. Stephen Green and his leadership team emphasized the need to regain opportunities for students to make progress, rather than use the four inclement weather days built into the district’s calendar.
“We did not want to simply recoup lost moments. Our most precious commodity is instructional time, and we want to make this an effective learning opportunity,” said Green. “We lost four days and we’re trying to be as creative and productive as we can about recapturing that time. Extending the school day with this schedule is the least disruptive for all parties.”
RECAP: Extended school day schedule from Monday, Oct. 2, 2017, through Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2017:
• Dismissal will occur 20 minutes later than normal, Monday-Friday, each week.
• Parents will receive a notification from their campus regarding the dismissal time.
A primary goal was not to impact Fall Break or Winter Break for both families and employees who may have commitments based on the approved school year calendar. Also, with the unpredictability of North Georgia weather in the winter, the district does not want to use all its inclement weather days before the onset of that season.

Message from Superintendent Stephen Green.

Superintendent Stephen Green

Dr. Stephen Green
Superintendent, DeKalb County School District

Much discussion took place as we worked to address the impact of Hurricane Irma on the instructional schedule. Several options were posed and vetted. We recognize that family schedules will be impacted regardless of any decision, however, the committee felt any consideration of Fall Break days and holidays would create hardships for both our families and staff members as many have already committed to plans.
Therefore, a hybrid model was proposed:
• The extension of the school day by 20 minutes beginning October 2nd and running through December 20th.
• The conversion of the November 7th (Election Day) Teacher Work Day to a regular school day.
This hybrid model allows the district to recoup the 4 days of instructional time lost due to the hurricane.
In response to the use of the 20 minutes of additional time, included in the revised schedule, the only requirement posed upon schools would be that the school cannot adjust its start time, and the end time must be adjusted to end 20 minutes later than the current schedule. The division of the 20 minutes, while it may be divided across multiple periods, there is no requirement for it to be implemented in that fashion.
The division of the extended time will be a school-based decision at all levels, therefore, providing latitude to the instruction needs of the schools. Such flexibility will allow our principals and schools to utilize the time as will best meet the needs of their students. Examples of such use are time for intervention periods, enrichment periods, to extend current instructional periods equally, or to concentrate the time in one instructional area to focus on a particular instruction program, such as literacy or numeracy.
We thank you for your continued support of DCSD schools.

74 Comments

Posted in DeKalb County School District