By Andy Klotz—
MUNCIE, IN – Students in Muncie Community Schools (MCS) may now get to experience what “no school” feels like during bad weather days that make it too dangerous to travel to and from school.
The MCS Board of Directors has approved a plan to repeal e-learning days from the district’s calendar. These would normally occur during bad weather days when in-school learning gets canceled. E-learning days require students to log-in to their school accounts on their take-home devices at a prescribed time to take part in classroom instruction.
With the revised school calendar, there will now be three “snow days” built in on three Fridays in the spring of 2024 – April 12, April 26 and May 10. If a school day is canceled because of inclement weather or some other reason, these days will be used to make up for those days. If there are no days canceled, these days will be off days for students and teachers.
The goal is to maximize the instructional time teachers have with students during the 180 days of learning required by the state. The change is immediate and will be in effect for the 2023-24 school year.
“During our process checks at all our schools, we discovered a lot of frustration with the amount of engagement teachers were having with students during e-Learning days. Teachers were essentially re-teaching the same material when students returned to classrooms,” MCS Director of Public Education and CEO Lee Ann Kwiatkowski said. “E-learning has a purpose and works in certain situations, but overall, we’ve discovered that there’s no substitute for in-class instruction, and that’s why we’re going back to a traditional snow day policy.”
One other change to the calendar will occur in the spring of 2024. The two-hour early release day scheduled for Tuesday, April 9 has been moved to Monday, April 8. This will allow students to be dismissed two hours earlier than normal on April 8 in order to be home during the rare total solar eclipse that is expected to occur at 3:06 p.m.
Central Indiana is expected to be a prime location to experience the eclipse – when the moon passes between the sun and Earth completely, blocking the sun’s face – and dismissing students early will help avoid some logistical concerns of transporting students while the eclipse is at its peak.
For the complete 2023-24 MCS school calendar, please visit muncie.k12.in.us/about-us/district-calendar.
About Muncie Community Schools
Serving the local community since 1855, Muncie Community Schools (MCS) educates more than 5,000 students at six elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school while also managing several other educational facilities. Through its unique partnership with Ball State University, MCS strives to maximize each student’s potential so he or she can be a positive, productive member of society. Find out more about MCS or Director of Public Education and CEO Lee Ann Kwiatkowski at muncieschools.org.
