Rogers Schools Seek Innovation Waivers To Make Up Snow Days

ROGERS — Requests for innovation are standard in Rogers as school administrators hope for flexibility in making up snow days next year.

New state guidance allows schools to form councils of innovation and vote on changes they would like to make outside established state rules. The changes go before the School Board and the state for approval after a school vote.

Ideas can come from the school level, but Rogers administrators asked school councils to request two changes, both related to snow day makeups.

An extra hour added to the school day is the first of two district-wide requests. Schools would be able to plan what that hour would look like. A second request is that schools be allowed to start up to five days early in 2015-16. The extra hour policy would be in effect next school year.

Teachers at Westside Elementary School already have talked about what activities would work well for the extra makeup hour, said Amy Putnam, principal. It could be a long day for younger students, but a snack and extra time focused on technology or research could help students, she said.

"It would take some getting used to," Putnam said.

Using an extra school hour to make up for snow days would help get students ready for spring tests, said Dan Cox, principal at Bellview Elementary School. Parents calling about makeup snow days even asked why the school couldn't just add hours, he said.

"That's a no-brainer for me," Cox said.

Time constraints mean that Bellview will request only those waivers requested by the administration, Cox said. Ideas need to be good ideas, he said.

In mid-March, administrators requested schools file a plan by Tuesday. The Rogers School Board will consider the school of innovation plans during its April 15 meeting. State decisions on the requests are expected in May.

Administrators previously have said that the extra makeup hour and early start date must pass all schools to be implemented due to scheduling constraints.

Many of the ideas she's heard so far this year have been related to school schedules and the number of hours students need to be learning at school, said Denise Airola, director of the office of innovation for education at the University of Arkansas. The days students missed this winter are influencing that, but there are other ideas to try, Airola said.

The first step to finding innovation is to find the school's need, she said. Traditional school meets the need for many children and that should not be changed. But for children who are not doing well in school, who are bored or struggling, there can be a fix. Schools can meet online with flexible schedules or elementary schools might run on an alternative calendar or have a focus on science or art.

Personalization and flexibility are key to innovation, she said.

Changes made at the school level are more flexible than statewide changes, Airola said. An innovation doesn't have to involve the whole school, but could be a single program or aimed at a student group.

Because schools are required to file as a school of innovation, their plans could eventually influence state policy.

State level changes take time and research. It can take two or three years of testing data to demonstrate change, Airola said. Schools that have ideas and gather data while they put them into practice could change the face of education, she said.

"How awesome is that?" she said.

Innovation doesn't change educational goals, it just changes how schools arrive at them, she said.

"The hard part here is you have this narrow window of time," she said.

A 60 percent vote is required by the school's council to advance ideas. Councils are required to have teacher, staff, parent, student and minority representatives.

Garfield Elementary School will petition to allow two extra students in kindergarten classes, pushing the maximum class limit to 22, said Stephen Bowman, principal.

The rural school is outside Rogers and has one class for each grade level, kindergarten through fifth grade.

Current rules mean a long bus ride for the one or two kindergartners too many that enroll each year, Bowman said. State law says they can have 25 children in first grade, but only 20 in kindergarten. The 21st kindergartner will be put on a bus from Garfield school with high school and middle school students and sent into Rogers. Once space opens up the child is transferred back to Garfield. Most children who go to Garfield will be home by 4 p.m., Bowman said.

"These kids don't even get out to Garfield before 4 o'clock," he said.

An assistant would spend extra time in the kindergarten classroom if enrollment went above 20, he said.

Rogers New Technology High School will ask if the school can use documented physical activities to replace physical education. That would give students the option to take more math, science or business classes during the school day, said Lance Arbuckle, principal. Students would still be required to take health classes. His goal is for students to develop healthy lifestyles, something they should continue outside of school.

"If they're training for a triathlon why do I need to have them down here playing kickball?" Arbuckle said.

Tara Vaughan, parent representative on the council, agreed with the change. Her daughter attends school for academics, Vaughan said.

Eastside Elementary School operates on a continuous learning calendar. Administrators were notified this year that state law requires a six-week break. Eastside has had a seven and a half week summer break. That break allows teachers to attend trainings scheduled in the summer and shortens the traditional length of time students are out of school during summer, said Robin Wilkerson, school principal.

With the six-week break school starts July 29 after getting out June 17, Wilkerson told parents in a meeting Wednesday. Parents agreed to appeal the six-week summer.

A seven-week summer gives her one more week to get her children into Camp War Eagle, to vacation Bible school and a shot at some August sports camps, said Rebecca Williams, parent at Eastside school.

NW News on 04/07/2014