Greetings, Lansing School District Families!
We’ve made some changes to our school calendar for this coming school year and we want you to know about them now so that you can be prepared when school starts in September.
Late Start Wednesdays
For the 2015-16 school year students will have full days of school on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays with Wednesday’s start time being delayed by 2 hours. We believe this is the best way to address several of the concerns that you, our community, expressed last year. We also believe that by doing this in all of our schools, it will provide you and us the needed stability with regards to transportation and child-care scheduling. There are many reasons why we decided to go this route:
• Elimination and/or reduction of scattered half days throughout the school year.
• A substantial decrease in the number of days substitutes will be in the classroom since professional development will not happen during the school day.
• Students will get a “mini” break mid-week to catch up or participate in other activities provided by the school district.
• More predictability in scheduling child-care, doctor’s appointments, family events.
• Teachers will have more time to collaborate on their work which will create better learning environments for students.
Community Partners
Of course, we also realize that a two-hour delayed start may create child care challenges for some families. The school district is currently working with our community partners to provide exciting and engaging activities for students in specific locations around the district during those Wednesday mornings when they are not in their classrooms. More information will be made available in the coming weeks but some of the things we’re working on include:
• Enrichment activities including art, music, and health/fitness options offered at no cost on both sides of town at a specific building.
• Y-Care at home schools or Boys and Girls Club programs for minimal costs to parents.
• Tutoring and ACT/SAT Test Prep along with Credit Recovery for Middle Years and High School students.
This is an exciting time for the district as we move forward with our plans to provide the best quality educational experience for our students. We are committed to our mission and we are grateful to our families for their support and encouragement!
Yvonne Caamal Canul
Superintendent
