NCSD eliminates early dismissals for 2020-21 school year

Students at the Newton Community School District starting March 1 will no longer be dismissed early on Mondays; and if for some reason classes were to be canceled because of inclement weather, superintendent Tom Messinger announced students will learning remotely instead.

Messinger first proposed the idea to eliminate early outs for the remainder of the 2020-21 school year during the Feb. 8 school board meeting. Between the three snow days and the delayed start caused by the summer derecho, students and faculty were on track to lose out on valuable instructional time.

Iowa schools are required to provide 1,080 hours of instructional time to students each year. At the time Messinger proposed his idea the district needed about 18 hours — or roughly three days — worth of time with students, which he argued could be made up by turning early out days into regular school days.

If early dismissals were eliminated, Messinger said students would still be able to finish their school year by June 4 and teachers could still plan to finish by June 8.

Results from a survey sent to parents told Messinger that an overwhelming majority were in favor of giving up early outs in order for students to finish by June 4. Teachers largely agreed, too, but worried about meeting other commitments outside of school when they have to work later every day now.

Read Messinger’s message to parents in full:

Each year in Iowa, schools are required to have a calendar with a minimum of 1080 hours of instruction for the students. The hours are calculated using the number of hours from the building with the fewest number of instructional hours. Not all hours in the school day qualify as instructional hours.

Starting on Monday, March 1, 2021 there will be no early release for our students on Mondays. The school day will be on the same schedule as the rest of the week. This will allow time to be made up over the remainder of the school year, which can count toward the 1080 hours. This make up would allow us to maintain June 4, 2021 as our last day of school for students.

If there are any future situations during the remainder of the 2020-2021 school year, which would normally call for school cancellation, the Newton Community School District will implement Remote Learning for the students. This will mean the last day of school for students is not changed.

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com