Operation Education: A new Indiana Law could change your child's school calendar - WSBT-TV
Some school districts in our area are scrambling to adjust academic calendars as a new law puts limits on the number of e-learning days.
The Indiana Department of Education is expected to release new guidance to schools about how they can navigate this new law.
House Enrolled Act No. 1093 was passed and signed by Governor Eric Holcomb in March.
The bill covers a range of academic topics.
In part, it says, schools can't use more than three “virtual student instruction days" in a school year and “teacher directed synchronous instruction” must be 50% of the instructional day.
School districts throughout the state are working right now to adjust future school calendars to reflect the new e-learning limits
“I think it is a bigger question than people really think about,” says Sarah Hickle, the Assistant Superintendent for School City of Mishawaka, “they think, should we have virtual learning, is that quality learning, or should we not? And I think there is a lot of things people have to consider.”
Hickle, like other administrators across our area, have some questions about how this law will impact schools and families.
Mishawaka plans its academic calendars two years at a time.
The calendar for the school year 2022-2023 has already been adopted but Hickle says, with the new law set to go into effect in July, “I anticipate we are going to have to make an amendment to the calendar we had already adopted.”
Traditionally, Hickle says, Mishawaka builds two or three pre-planned e-learning days into the school calendar.
For example, on election days when the public is voting inside area schools, students are learning from home.
With this new law, Hickle says, this could mean when the weather is bad, school's will have to close, instead of opting for an e-learning day.
“Schools like us will have to make a choice, do you take out those planned e-learning days and save them for inclement weather? Or do you keep them, because you know where they are going to fall, and you can plan accordingly to maximize learning for students, and then when you get inclement weather it has to be a closure,” says Hickle.
Hickle is waiting for clarification on that issue from the Department of Education.
The DOE says its legal team is reviewing the implementation of the new law and will be providing guidance to schools on the issue in the coming day.
The South Bend Community School Corporation also builds pre-planned e-learning days into its school year.
Some of those days are used for teacher development and preparation.
Similarly, to Mishawaka, South Bend could have to add days onto the end of the school year if the district opts to close schools for inclement weather.
“We know that face-to-face instruction is the best, but we also know that going into mid-June is also quite challenging as well,” says Brandon White, the SBCSC Assistant Superintendent for Academics, “so we want to make sure we are using a well thought out calendar, and using both e-learn days and snow days in the best way possible, that preserves quality education but also a well-rounded calendar for our students and families.”
School administrators argue that while virtual learning isn't nearly as effective as having students inside the classroom, it is still better than no school at all especially at crucial points in the school year.
“I think you are going to find very few people who are going to argue that virtual learning or e-learning days are equivalent or better than being in attendance in person. I would agree with that. The problem is it is not that simple,” says Hickle, “if you do makeup days, they tend to go on the end of the year which is significantly past state testing. So, having an e-learning day which is prior to state testing has a greater value than having a day at the end of the year where the same learning wouldn't necessarily happen.”
School administrators hope the expected guidance from the DOE offers more insight into how to build their school calendars for the future, what a virtual learning instructional day will look like, and how each school district should balance the requirement that 50% of the school day be “teacher directed synchronous instruction.”
There are still school districts in the state where large portions the population don’t have internet access or technology.
South Bend leaders say, despite huge strides by the School Corporation, there are still around 1,000 families in the district that don't have reliable access to internet.
“I would like to see a little bit of leniency,” says Hickle, “it would be nice if there was a way to find compromise -- where the motivation behind the legislation of not having excessive e-learning days was still accomplished while also recognizing that there isn't equity across all schools. The need for inclement weather days in northern Indiana is radically different than for people living in the Indianapolis area which typically drives legislation.”
As it stands, the law also includes the provision that schools can ask for waivers due to extraordinary circumstances.
It is another element of the law that school administrators want to hear more about.
source: https://wsbt.com/news/operation-education/operation-education-a-new-indiana-law-could-change-your-childs-school-calendar
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