The Washington School Board approved continuing to hold professional development on Friday afternoons during the second semester, with early outs for students.

Superintendent Willie Stone says this will affect nine Fridays on the calendar, with an early dismissal at 1:10 p.m. about every other Friday beginning on January 29th. Stone says that because of their COVID-19 mitigation strategies and 7:50 a.m. start time the teachers aren’t able to meet before school days or during other parts of the week. He emphasizes that the administration and the school board understands the burden these early outs may place on parents, “We do understand that but at the same time we feel the gains that we gain by this outweigh the losses for us, for our students academically and that really is our goal is to try to make decisions based on what’s best for students academically.”

Stone also acknowledges other negative aspects to these early outs include how it affects transportation for St. James Catholic School students, at-risk students that receive 10 less hours of instruction, but some positives he notes is that it will give staff more prep time for students in quarantine, and give them time to look at and analyze student data with peers.