McKeesport school calendar approved

By JEFF STITT

jstitt@yourmvi.com

McKeesport Area School Board approved the 2020-21 school calendar Wednesday.

“The school calendar was adjusted based on the adjustment to the start of the school year, we had postponed the start,” Superintendent Dr. Mark Holtzman said. “We went through and developed three options for the board to consider based on the start and finish date of the school year and how to incorporate the dates in which were made what we’ll call professional development opportunities for staff.”

The last day of instruction for students and teachers as well as graduation is June 2. 

Students and staff will be on Thanksgiving break from Nov. 26 to 30, on winter break Dec. 24 to Jan. 1 and spring break April 1 to 5.

The calendar shows students will participate in 176 instructional days this school year. By the end of the school year, teachers will have participated in 190 days. That includes 10 professional development days in August, which gave teachers and staff the chance to familiarize themselves with providing instruction in a socially distanced classroom and via virtual platforms.

Snow make-up days are slated for Nov. 30, Feb. 15, April 1 and May 28, and the district has received approval from the state Department of Education to have the maximum of five Flexible Instruction Days.

An FID is a program available to public schools to be used as an alternate approach to delivering instruction if a circumstance arises that prevents instruction in a customary manner. Those include an epidemic, a hazardous weather condition, a law enforcement emergency, inoperable school buses or other equipment necessary to the public school entity’s operation, damage to a school building or a temporary circumstance rendering any portion of a school building unfit or unsafe for use, according to the state Department of Education.

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