FOUNTAIN SPRINGS — The North Schuylkill School District is making application with the state Department of Education to participate in a new program that provides flexibility in school instruction when schedule disruptions occur.
The school board approved applying for the Flexible Instructional Day Program for the 2020-21 school year with an 8-0 vote at its June 17 regular meeting.
According to the PDE website, a Flexible Instructional Day program can support public school entities in cases when circumstances, such as epidemic, hazardous weather condition, law enforcement emergency and damage to a school building, prevent the delivery of instruction in its customary manner or location.
Act 13 of 2020 provided the secretary of education with the authority to waive the deadline for submission of FID applications and to determine the maximum number of FIDs a public school entity may utilize for the 2019-20 school year only. If a public school entity chooses to implement a FID program for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years, the number of FIDs may not exceed five days per school year. If accepted, a public school entity’s application extends for a period of three years, after which it may choose to reapply.
“Flexible instructional days was something that was implemented last year,” district Superintendent Robert Ackell said. “North Schuylkill did not apply last year. They were to be used last year for closure days, which was basically snow days. School districts across the state could use those FIDs as long as they had a plan in place. So if a snow day or any kind of emergency would occur, and we’re not talking about COVID or anything like that, a school district could close and they call a flexible instructional day where students and staff would work from home and it would count as a real school day. If a school district was approved, they could basically have five days to work in their school calendar to replace snow days.”
Ackell said only about one-third of school districts across the state applied to be included in the program. For those districts approved, they were able to utilize the days when the pandemic closed the schools.
“Obviously everything that happened in the spring with COVID and the state closed right away, the schools that closed that had their FID approval, they were able to go right to their plan,” Ackell said. “The state did recommend that the schools should apply for this flexible instructional day program. This will allow us to teach school virtually if we need to for five days.”
PDE’s website explains that staff, students and parents play key roles in FID success. Specifically, if technology is the chosen method for delivery of instruction, staff, students and parents must all know how to access and use the online services and resources.
While teachers can prepare students on the procedure to complete work online, parents, guardians and other care providers, such as grandparents, will require some basic knowledge to assist students if help is needed.
Specialized professional development for teachers may assist in ensuring program success.
Ackell said the experience gained from teaching students virtually through the pandemic closure was important in completing the application.
“We took what we did in the spring and made it fit to the application,” Ackell said. “Honestly, if we had to fill out the application a year ago, I’m not sure that we could have. It would have been very, very difficult. Being able to do it this time around was very easy because we took what we did in the spring and made it fit because our teachers already went through it, our students and parents already went through it, and we made it work.”
Ackell said PDE will review the application for a decision on whether North Schuylkill will be accepted.
Contact the writer: jusalis@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6023
