Washington Community School District students will have an early start to the weekend for the rest of the fall semester.

The school board recently approved to hold early outs on the Fridays that don’t already have an early out for professional development. School dismisses at 1:10 p.m. beginning tomorrow and for other additional Fridays on November 12th, December 3rd, December 17th, and January 7th. Superintendent Willie Stone explained that recent substitute teacher shortages have caused other staff members to fill in when help is needed during their preparation time, and Stone says not only is prep time important for the staff, it’s written in their contract, “Allowing that time for our staff members to meet, if they need to meet or allowing that time for our staff members to plan because most of the time that’s been taken away. And we do have students out, as you can see we have students out with positive cases, we have students out on quarantine, and they’re getting that stuff to them also. It gives them time back that’s honestly deserved.”

Stone recognized that early dismissals every Friday will cause issues for some students and parents. The board will revisit the matter in December.