Portsmouth City School District has revised its 2023-24 school calendar to add seven Early Warning System Data Days for teachers and staff to evaluate student progress and plan intervention programs. Students will not be required to attend school on these days, but families can still send them if they choose.
The seven Early Warning System Data Days will be:
- Monday, Sept. 25, 2023
- Monday, Oct. 16, 2023
- Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2023
- Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024
- Wednesday, March 6, 2024
- Monday, April 15, 2024
- Wednesday, May 1, 2024
The Early Warning System is a new program developed by the state of Ohio to help teachers better identify students in grades 6-12 who are falling behind in classes, behavior, or attendance, and develop plans to help them get back on track. Portsmouth Schools was asked by the state of Ohio to be one of the first pilots of this program before it’s rolled out to all Ohio school districts next year.
Portsmouth Superintendent Scott Dutey said the days will allow staff time to comfortably complete these new tasks without also having classes that day.
“If we want this to work we have to allow our staff time to put this in place and then continually evaluate throughout the course of the year, from beginning to end,” Dutey said. “Then we can implement these interventions while the students are here, and hopefully we can have an impact on them.”
The district is also making accommodations for working families.
“We wanted to give parents an option if it’s an issue, or if taking these days creates a hardship, to provide some type of programming. If they want to come, they can,” Dutey said. “It’s going to be a shorter day; probably like 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Boys and Girls Club is going to be providing the programming on those days, and we’re having education students from Shawnee State University also to help on those days.”
Registration forms will be sent home with students during the first week of school to help the district plan for transportation and lunches on those days.
For more information about Portsmouth City Schools, visit them online at www.portsmouthtrojans.net, or follow the school’s page on Facebook.