NEWARK – The Worcester County Board of Education modified the school calendar Tuesday to incorporate three half days and distance learning to address mental health concerns.
The school board on Tuesday unanimously approved a recommendation from Superintendent Lou Taylor Tuesday to make Dec. 17 a half day and to have distance learning rather than in-person learning on Dec. 20, 21 and 22. He also recommended half days on March 11 and May 6.
“As many of us know or have experienced personally, the sustained trauma from the pandemic has brought a new set of challenges to school systems not only here in Worcester but across our country,” Taylor said. “We know that quality education cannot take place within our classrooms if our students, faculty and staff are not whole and what I mean by that, both physically and mentally.”
Taylor said that while the leadership team was already working on providing resources for staff to support their mental health, he was also suggesting calendar modifications.
“In the proposal you see before you, we have an early dismissal day on Friday December 17 to provide time for teachers prepare for the following Monday through Wednesday, which as you can see, those days have been identified as distance learning days,” he said. “This will allow our students and staff to participate in learning activities from the comforts of their homes before we officially begin our winter break on the 23rd.”
Wicomico did the same. Actually added a half day for every month for the remainder of the school year.
Poor teachers have burnout after being off for a year and a half.
Teachers get free time off, so why don’t the kids. They don’t want the public to know, but the entire school system employees are getting the free time off.