Member school districts of the Dawson Education Service Cooperative are collectively and separately requesting waivers from the Arkansas Department of Education to start the 2018-19 school year a week earlier than currently dictated by the state.
Current state law establishes the first allowable day of class as the Monday of the week that contains Aug. 19. The 2018-19 school year is scheduled to start on the latest possible date of Aug. 20.
A pair of schools were previously granted by the waivers to start the next school year in the week prior to Aug. 19. Dawson Director Darin Beckwith said more districts and cooperatives throughout the state became interested in following suit.
"Instead of doing multiple presentations at the state board, now, the coops are going to go with the schools within their coops who are interested," Beckwith said.
Dawson's board is comprised of superintendents from the 22 member school districts, which include all seven Garland County public schools districts and five in Hot Spring County. Beckwith said Lakeside and Malvern were the only two members to express they were not interested in pursuing the waiver, while more than two-thirds of the member superintendents expressed interest in starting school earlier.
"Just because they get the waiver does not mean they are going to use it," Beckwith said. "It gives them the ability to use it if they so desire."
The specific waiver requested by districts in Dawson is to allow for the first day of class to be no earlier than Monday, Aug. 13. The districts argue activities, such as football, will begin on the same relative date as this fall and many students would already be on campus for practice and other participation in other groups.
The granting of the waiver would not affect any other laws, rules or procedures. The school year would remain the same length, but shorten the disparity between the fall and spring semesters.
Starting school on Aug. 20 would lead many districts to attend school for 81 days before the holiday break and 97 after. The waiver would decrease the difference from 16 days to six with 86 days scheduled before the break and 92 after.
The member districts of Dawson argue the waiver gives greater assurance the school year will end in late May instead of June. The application states some research indicates a decrease in learning past the Memorial Day holiday.
"Beginning school earlier automatically results in more days of instruction prior to spring testing," according to Dawson's rationale for the waiver. "More days of instruction will result in higher test scores."
The state's 15 cooperatives will be represented at the Dec. 14 meeting of the State Board of Education by Charles Cudney, director of the Northwest Arkansas Education Service Cooperative. Cudney chairs the association of all cooperative directors in the state.
"I think there is some interest across the state," Beckwith said. "It will be interesting to see, when the smoke clears, how many schools take advantage of it."
Local on 12/03/2017