Days may be longer to provide buffer

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  • North Hopkins ISD board member Ellis Dicus listens to principal reports at the Thursday night board meeting. Staff photo by Todd Kleiboer
    North Hopkins ISD board member Ellis Dicus listens to principal reports at the Thursday night board meeting. Staff photo by Todd Kleiboer
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District sets August 19 start date

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The North Hopkins Independent School District superintendent said at the Thursday board meeting the district is considering adding 10 minutes to the school day to provide a buffer to account for more missed days next school year due to COVID-19.

“Right now, we’re at 169 days, and we have 465 minutes per day,” Dr. Darin Jolly said. “The math comes out to we have five and half additional days.”

Schools are required to have 75,600 instructional minutes, and adding ten minutes would mean about 10 days of buffer time for NHISD. Sulphur Bluff ISD is also considering the same action.

“Another rationale to add additional minutes is that we have a gap of learning that we’ve hit since March through now,” Jolly said. “No great teacher is going to say, let’s not have more minutes, as long as it’s not to an extreme.”

Teachers are currently being surveyed for their opinion on longer days.

Jolly added that there would be no summer learning camps hosted at the school, a decision partially due to rising Hopkins County COVID-19 cases.

“The opinion of our leadership is to really watch this so we can hopefully get the best start we can in August,” Jolly said.

While some Texas districts are deciding on earlier start dates and later end dates, Jolly said NHISD has already set its start date and would not like to change it.

“The first day for our students is Aug. 19, and the first day for our teachers is Aug. 10,” Jolly said. “We really want to hold to that.”

Jolly said the district would try to maximize social distancing for its summer employees, and screenings will be required upon arrival.

“We’re trying to find that sweet spot between CDC guidelines and recommendations from TASB [Texas Association of School Boards],” Jolly said. “We are emphasizing social distancing.”

Secondary principal Brian Lowe reported secondary enrollment at 232 and said the senior parade “was outstanding for our first time. The new tradition is likely to continue, according to Lowe.

“It was the talk of the town,” Lowe said. “People were coming through and asking, are we going to do it again?”

“I told them [the graduating seniors] that a lot of seniors can’t say what you can say,” board vice president Brian Lewis said in addition. “There’s been all these years doing the same old things. It depends on how you look at it.”

Elementary principal Kodi Wright reported enrollment at 323, and she announced Tuesday, June 2 as the pick-up/drop-off day for students’ belongings and school equipment. Secondary students will also be dropping off their technology the same day.

In business items, the board approved new lease agreement with the Hopkins County Special Education Co-op, bumping up the rent to $19,500 for the three rooms the special education program currently uses.

President David James asked if the district could still provide enough classrooms for fifth and sixth grade with the lease agreement, and Jolly said the district “always meets the needs of instruction first.”

“It’s a year-by-year needs assessment,” Jolly said. “At some point, we’re going to need to figure out if it’s affordable to have another wing or provide land across the street or behind the fence [north the campus]. At some point, we’re going to need more square footage.”

The board also approved waivers related to missed days and educator appraisals, and they accepted the resignations of kindergarten teacher Lorrie Ferris and seventh grade teacher Dale Clement.