To make up for missed snow days, North Little Rock schools may temporarily suspend early release

North Little Rock, Arkansas – Last week, there was snow in several Arkansas school districts; some districts were closed all week, so students had to make up five days of missed instruction.

The North Little Rock School District offers a method for kids to avoid losing those summer days, but it will require them to forfeit extra time this semester on Wednesdays outside of class.

“This year has been our very first year with early release,” said Dr. Gregory Pilewski, North Little Rock School District superintendent. “We early release full weeks on Wednesdays about an hour and a half earlier that are purely to target teacher professional development, teacher collaborative planning, and individual planning.”

Parents were asked to respond to a survey about the suspension of those early release days, which would allow them to make up the four or five days they missed due to snow.

“What we want to gather from the community from our parents is to say, to make up these four or five days, would you be okay to temporarily suspend early release for the remainder of this school year,” said Pilewski.

After hearing from teachers and staff, Pilewski stated that the district has received roughly a thousand replies from parents, and they are making every effort to avoid going into the summer months.

“Really going into June, whether I talked to teachers or parents, that has been kind of our tradition getting out right before Memorial Day, so I don’t think there is much of an appetite to kind of go more days into June,” said Pilewski.

According to him, those early release days will return at the beginning of the following year.

“We kind of had to put everything on hold for our plan and it looks like we might have to put it on hold for the second semester,” said Pilewski. “Right now our calendar for next year has early release built in and so I am hoping we will get off to a better start, a smoother start as we go into next year.”

A parent of a student in North Little Rock expressed support for the interim suspension but added that she would be open to any method that would allow the students to make up those hours.

Parents can complete the survey regarding their choice until Tuesday, January 30 at noon.

That same day at the school board meeting, a decision based on those findings will be made.