Madison, Miss. (Madison Journal) – Madison County Schools officials are polling parents about the possibility of a modified schedule for future school years, officials say.
Superintendent Charlotte Seals said in a video to parents explaining the survey that 75 percent of district faculty and staff answered “yes” to a survey about the possibility of a modified schedule.
“Knowing that a majority of faculty and staff are in favor of this approach and interested in working on a modified calendar we are now taking steps to get feedback from you, our parents,” Superintendant Charlotte Seals said in a video to parents explaining the survey.
Madison County School officials sent a survey to parents earlier this month to provide feedback on a modified calender for the school district. The survey is available through March 23.
Seals said a modified schedule would apply, at the earliest, to the 2024-2025 school year. The calendar for the 2023-2024 school year is already set on a traditional schedule and is available on the MCS website.
Seals said many districts across the state are considering a transfer to a modified schedule.
“At its core, a modified calendar shifts a few weeks of summer vacation to provide more breaks throughout the school year,” Seals said in the video.
MCSD is taking a “strong look” at the potential benefits of such a schedule. She said the goal is to spread out school breaks to reduce the burnout of both faculty and students.
She said the calendar still includes 180 days of school for students as the current schedule does and 187 for teachers.
Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann is a proponent of a modified schedule.
“Well in Mississippi we are doing 180 days a year and everybody pretty much knows that only is about half a year of education,” Hosemann said in 2022. “To give our children really the expertise to compete we’re talking about training young men and women to compete in a worldwide economy and the way to do this is by giving them the maximum amount of education.”