LAUSD announced a revised plan for an expanded school year, following the labor negotiations with the union United Teachers Los Angeles. The approved plan will allow teachers the option to hold classes for an extra four days of the academic year, two at the beginning of winter break, and two at the beginning of spring break.
The extra classroom time is designed for students to catch up after the pandemic interrupted their studies.
Yesterday, LAUSD Board President Kelly Gonez said in a press release that " Continuing to offer acceleration days with the support and presence of our educators will allow our most struggling students to receive the individualized support they need to grow academically and enhance their socio-emotional well-being.”
But will the extra days really help students recover? USC education professor Maria Ott, who is an expert in school district politics, reflects:
Maria Ott: “It’s only going to help if they come. And I think that’s going to be the question is how to make that experience attractive to the students. Because students look forward to a break from school. So as do the teachers. So I think the challenge for the educators, for the school district is going to be how they promote this as valuable to students. So they’ll want to be there and that will see it as a positive. So they have a lot of work to do to make that happen.”
For Annenberg Media, I’m Aorui Pi.