Classes to be held as usual Friday
This close to the Christmas holidays, with Albany in the midst of a strong run in the 2-A state football playoffs, multiple early dismissals due to holidays and football games, and this week’s playoff game located over three hours away on a Thursday evening, Nancy Smith Elementary School principal Jonathan Scott, has had some calls from parents wondering if AISD will really hold classes this Friday, Dec. 14.
“Yes, classes will be at the normal times on Friday,” said Scott, who is also the incoming Albany Independent School District superintendent.
House Bill (HB) 2610 specifies how many minutes of instruction schools must provide.
“HB 2610, passed by the 84th Texas Legislature, amends Texas Education Code, §25.081, by striking language requiring 180 days of instruction and replacing it with language requiring districts to provide at least 75,600 minutes of instruction, including intermissions and recess,” said Scott. “The bill also allows school districts to add minutes as necessary to compensate for minutes of instruction lost due to school closures caused by disaster, flood, extreme weather conditions, fuel curtailment, or another calamity.”
Translation – if a school is not in session for the required number of minutes during the school year, time will have to be added somewhere to make up the difference.
Albany, like most school districts, builds in a little bit of “cushion,” but enough lost minutes due to early releases, bad weather days, power outages, or unscheduled holidays could mean that the reserves would be used up and minutes, or even days, would need to be added to the school year.
“Each campus is a little different, based upon the bell schedule,” said Scott. “The high school starts a little earlier and releases a little later to accommodate the buses (delivering and picking up students at both campuses). Those minutes every day add up over time, and at NSES we just don’t have as many extra minutes banked as the secondary campus.”
Local authorities follow the state guidelines, and yes, there will be class as normal this Friday, Dec. 14.
