The Gist
- Three days in 2022 will be switched to early release days.
- The change gives teachers more planning time.
- Similar schedule changes are expected next year.
The Fulton County Board of Education changed three late start Mondays to early release days to help give teachers more planning time.
“We’ve had some discussions about the school calendar and the need for us to make some adjustments and that we’re requiring so much of our teachers to as relates to professional development,” Superintendent Mike Looney said.
Based on feedback from stakeholders, the school district recommended changing Jan. 24, Feb. 28 and March 21 in 2022 to early release days, Ryan Moore, executive director of Strategy & Governance, told the school board during its Dec. 7 work session.
“Our plan is to make sure that all students are served lunch, and then that they would be released to again provide more planning time for teachers,” he said.
Board member Gail Dean asked if the school buses would run earlier at the release time and if after-school care would still be provided on those Mondays.
“From what I understand, buses will run at earlier times to bring kids home. And they’re still working on plans to make sure that there’s child care where appropriate so those after-school providers will still be able to be at the school for students who need it,” Moore said.
Chief Academic Officer Cliff Jones said staff is working on planning with a group of principals to iron out details like that. This will take another week, and the complete information will be given to the school board and the community before the winter break, he said.
“I would just like to prepare the board as we discussed previously, we do anticipate making some sort of similar recommendation for next year’s calendar. And we’ll be bringing that sometime this spring,” Looney said.