Washington County Public Schools returns to longer school days
Washington County Public Schools returns to longer school days
Washington County Public Schools is returning to the longer, traditional school-day schedule starting March 15, the school system announced Tuesday.
The move adds about 45 minutes to the school day.
"Returning to the traditional school day schedule is one strategy to address the achievement gaps that have resulted from the school closures during the pandemic," according to the school system announcement shared late Tuesday afternoon.
"This strategy adds at least 42 hours of instruction per student between March 15th and the end of the school year. This time is incredibly valuable to meeting the needs of students, both in person and online," the announcement states.
The school system will remain in Stage 4 of its Return to Learn Plan.
Stage 4 began Feb. 16, allowing more students to return to in-person learning while families could still choose to have their children learn remotely. Shortly before that stage began, the school system was expecting 13,328 students to return to in-person learning. That's about 60% of official enrollment this school year.
Stage 4 includes students in grades two through 12 participating in an A-day/B-day schedule so they are learning in person every other school day. That will continue with the extended school-day schedule.
The county school system is starting in-person practices for the spring sports season on March 15. A "Return to Play" update is expected next week.
This week, 732 more students returned to in-person learning, WCPS Superintendent Boyd Michael said Tuesday during a meeting of the Washington County Board of Education.
"So we're approaching 14,000 children that are participating in in-person learning," he said. "We're working our way towards creating more. We do have challenges with the buses, we have challenges with some very small classrooms, and a few of our schools, just based on their design. And student interest drives a lot of this, parent interest. But we're going to continue to add to our numbers daily, I hope.
"I know it's frustrating between the staff that every day they get a new student, but they need to know from the superintendent that's exactly by design," he said. "We're going to continue to work to expand our numbers to in-person learning ..."
Michael said school officials will continue to update parents.
"We try to provide updates to the board and the community every time we meet," Michael said.
Julie Greene covers Washington County government and the town of Funkstown for Herald-Mail Media. She can be reached at 301-791-6245 or by email at julieg@herald-mail.com.
