GCS Considers Extra Semester, Programs To Help Mitigate Pandemic Impacts

Public schools across the state are trying to find ways to help kids who fell behind during remote learning. Guilford County Schools is considering extending the school year for some students.

Districts are waiting for state lawmakers to decide on school calendar flexibility. Guilford County Schools says it wants more time to help struggling students get back on track.

Superintendent Sharon Contreras says the district is looking at several additional learning opportunities to do that. Those include targeted math tutoring programs, weekend learning hubs, and having some middle and high school students attend classes during a fifth quarter in the summer.

“What we are saying is, teachers would give incompletes instead of Fs, and if that student wanted to pass, they would have to come in for this fifth quarter, so that is a reality,” she says.

Forty percent of GCS students failed at least one course during the first quarter of this school year, compared to 29 percent of students for the same time last year.

School officials say besides any state mandates, the total amount of COVID relief funding the district ends up receiving will also impact what programs will be offered in the coming months.

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