The Indiana State Board Of Education granted an HEA 1003 Flexibility Waiver Wednesday to the Monroe County Community School Corp. It will allow schools to report instructional minutes instead of instructional days.
Flexibility waivers, first introduced during the 2020 legislative session and before the pandemic, allow schools to bypass certain state requirements if they can prove it will benefit students.
READ MORE: School Leaders Seek First Waivers To Bypass Parts Of Indiana Education Law
The corporation’s waiver request, submitted by Director of Elementary Education Debra Prenkert, says the goal of this change is to "offer flexibility in the administration of education programs or to improve efficiency of school operations" in two ways — one, by allowing more flexibility in switching between virtual and in-person learning; and two, by allowing more time for professional development.
Indiana law requires schools to provide 180 instructional days per school year. According to the district's waiver request, MCCSC provides 4,500 and 9,900 additional minutes of instruction at elementary and secondary levels, respectively.
Prenkert writes in the waiver request that the move to virtual learning during the pandemic will help teachers and staff adjust to the unprecedented challenges they are facing.
