HOPE, AR - The Hope Public Schools board met on Thursday, February 29, 2024, to discuss calendar options for the 2024-2025 school year. The options presented to the board included a traditional calendar similar to the one used for the current school year, a hybrid year-round model which included an earlier start date for the next school year while providing longer breaks provided throughout the academic year, and an alternate calendar which allows for the district to apply to a waiver in order to start within the first two weeks of August and provide extended breaks during the school year.
For the 2024-2025 school year, the Hope Public Schools board voted to implement the alternative traditional school schedule, which in addition to flexibility for breaks, also shifts the student instruction model from "days of instruction" to "hours of instruction." Arkansas law states that students must have 178 days of instruction or 1,068 hours of instruction (which equals 178 days at 6 hours per day). By shifting to an hours-based model, the district can more readily recoup time lost due to inclement weather while also having the flexibility for extended break times throughout the academic calendar year.
Superintendent Dr. Jonathan Crossley says, “We will work closely with the PPC (Personnel Policy Committee) over the next two weeks to determine the exact start date and the exact end date for the upcoming school year." Once the PPC, which is the body of certified personnel which recommends what the school calendar will look like, has a finalized version, the school board will then vote whether to adopt it for the 2024-2025 school year.
As for the future, Dr. Crossley says, "Next school year, we will closely study the modified ‘year-round’ calendar as a district and community. We will plan community conversations with parents, businesses, students, and staff to weigh the pros and cons of ‘year-round’ implementation as early as the 2025-2026 school year. There are many unknowns with the ‘year-round’ option that will require more due diligence on our part. Namely, the board feels that we should communicate more intentionally with the community before we shift to a ‘year-round’ model."
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