Saturday school? State board OKs one-year flexibility for Oklahoma schools grappling with COVID-19 contingency plans
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TULSA, Okla. (Tulsa World) — Public schools grappling with multiple contingency plans for the COVID-19 pandemic will have one bit of new flexibility in 2020-21 if need be.
On Thursday, the Oklahoma State Board of Education voted 5-2 to approve a flexibility waiver allowing schools to count any instruction offered on Saturdays toward the state’s minimum requirement of 180 days of instruction or the equivalent in hours and minutes.
State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister said she does not expect any schools to use the option of Saturday school as a first resort, but she believes local school boards and district administrators need as much flexibility as possible in creating school calendars with provisions for possible COVID-19 closures and to provide special accommodations for students needing extra help or with extraordinary health concerns.
Board members Estela Hernandez of Oklahoma City and Kurt Bollenbach of Kingfisher voted no.
Hernandez said she did not want to see schools adding to already stressful times for students and their families by infringing on their Saturdays and would prefer that they use technology instead to provide special accommodations.
Member Carlisha Williams Bradley of Tulsa responded that mandatory school closures this spring had already exposed the significant “digital divide” that exists for students with no or limited access to technology.
And she added that a number of public schools already offer students Saturday school options, but this new flexibility would simply allow the time invested by students and teachers to count for one year toward state minimums for instruction time.
Upon passage of the flexibility waiver, Hofmeister told the board she and state education staffers would closely monitor local use of the waiver and raise the matter again if the board’s “intent” that it not be used as a first resort is not followed.
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