RICHMOND, Va. — During their Monday night meeting, the Richmond School Board approved it's first 200-day instructional calendar to pilot at Fairfield Court Elementary School — adding 20 additional days of learning for students.
That means Fairfield Court students would return to the classroom for the 2023-24 school year on July 24 while all other Richmond Public Schools (RPS) would return on Aug. 21. They would, however, have the same last day of school in 2024.
According to the proposal, teachers and full-time support staff at the school will move to an 11-month contract term, with teachers getting an $11,000 bonus and the support staff receiving a $5,000 bonus for each year they are part of the new schedule, respectively.
The principal and assistant principal will receive a $15,000 bonus for each year of the pilot schedule, while all other staff will receive a $5,000 bonus if their school meets the student outcome goals approved by RPS Superintendent Kamras.
Staff members that don't want to work under the 200-day schedule will be guaranteed a job at another RPS school, according to the parameters set in the proposal. There's also a process outlined for families who do or don't want their student attending the school under the extended instructional schedule.
The motivation behind increasing the number of learning days for students is to combat the significant decline in student achievement seen after the pandemic.
Kamras haspreviously voiced his supportin moving forward with a longer school calendar.
The process to find schools to try out the 200-day schedule began with offering RPS principals the opportunity to apply their schools to be a part of the pilot.
Twelve applications were submitted and four schools were initially selected to move forward: Fairfield Court Elementary, Cardinal Elementary Overby-Sheppard Elementary and Westover Hills Elementary.
Teachers, staff and families at each school were polled on the possibility of an extended school year, and, in order to move forward, RPS said they wanted majority support from both staff members and families.
Cardinal Elementary School and Overby-Sheppard Elementary School may also be extending their calendar as part of the pilot program. However, Westover Hills Elementary School, will not be proceeding with the calendar changes since the majority was not in favor.
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