By Stefanie Jackson – Accomack County schools have followed suit with Northampton County schools to provide teachers more planning time in the form of two-hour early dismissals on select Wednesdays and extend Thanksgiving vacation to a full week.
Superintendent Chris Holland said Tuesday night that Accomack teachers “are working hard. They’re working harder this year than they did last year,” when they taught classes four days a week.
When no students were in school buildings on Fridays during deep cleaning, teachers had time to plan and do other administrative tasks.
Accomack County Public Schools will have two-hour early dismissals on the following Wednesdays during the remainder of the first semester: Nov. 17, Dec. 1, Dec. 15, and Jan. 12.
“These days are not for professional development,” Holland clarified. “These days are for teachers working in their departments, working on calling parents, working on lesson plans. I really feel strongly about this,” he said.
The instructional time lost on the four scheduled early dismissal days – a total of eight hours – will be covered by Accomack schools’ inclement weather time, which currently stands at 85 hours and 50 minutes.
Accounting for the early dismissals, there will be 77 hours and 50 minutes of inclement weather time left.
Teachers have been “stretched to the limits” by the consequences of COVID-19, Holland said.
He also suggested adding Monday, Nov. 22, and Tuesday, Nov. 23, to Thanksgiving vacation, extending it to a full week.
That would further reduce the time banked for inclement weather to about 65 hours and 30 minutes, Holland said.
According to his proposal, each 12-month employee would have to use two-and-a-half personal days to have off the entire week of Thanksgiving.
School board member Camesha Handy disagreed that 12-month employees should have to use personal days to get the whole week off like teachers.
School board member Janet Turner noted that teachers don’t get “vacation time.”
Handy said, “Everybody’s in the bullpen together, everybody’s working together, everybody’s stressed out together, everybody is encountering the same challenges together, so I think it should be fair and equitable across the board.”
School board member Lisa Johnson asked how giving 12-month employees the extra time off without requiring them to use personal days would affect the “cost of doing business.”
Finance Director Beth Onley explained that since ACPS isn’t a private business, there would be no “loss of sales” and school revenues would remain unchanged.
Furthermore, the salaries of 12-month employees are already covered by the ACPS budget, so there would be no additional cost to give them the extra time off.
Vice Chair Ronnie Holden said, “Look across the state, across the country. Our teachers are experiencing a significant amount of stress … and this is an opportunity to help … and for us to recognize how stressful and much more difficult it is in our educational environment now versus pre-pandemic.”
The motions to allow the two-hour early dismissals, extend Thanksgiving vacation, and exempt 12-month employees from using personal days for the extended Thanksgiving vacation all passed unanimously.
Community Resource Fair
Coordinator of Student Services Della Jordan announced the ACPS first annual Community Resource Fair will be Saturday, Nov. 13, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Metompkin Elementary School.
Each participating family will receive free grab-and-go lunches and a bag of nonperishable Thanksgiving dinner items from the Food Bank of the Eastern Shore (while supplies last), and there will be a $100 Walmart gift card giveaway.
Families can learn more about community resources such as health care services, mental health services, housing, the local literacy council, and 4H.
Face masks and social distancing will be required and the event will be held rain or shine.
