HOUSTON — The Houston Independent School District is exploring scheduling options for the upcoming school year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
One option being discussed is "the Year-Round Designation with the Texas Education Agency (TEA), which would allow for more flexibility on school start date and additional instructional days for students who may have experienced instructional gaps due to COVID-19."
The district is considering an 11-month academic year calendar in anticipation of a second wave of COVID-19 cases. The plan includes the following:
- 182 instructional days for all students (an increase of 10 total instructional days)
- 17 possible intersession dates for targeted academic remediation and instruction
- An additional five minutes per school day, which would result in 5,390 minutes above the state requirement. This would ensure the district has a bank of minutes to use for emergency weather events or closures, in lieu of make-up days and further adjustments of our calendar in the future.
- Two teacher professional development days and three teacher prep days
- 187 teacher contract days
The plan would require approval from the HISD Board of Education and the district is listening to the community to see how they feel about the proposal.
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