Indiana Legislative Changes Leads Evansville School Corporation to Adjust 2022-23 School Calendar
Due to a change of requirements by the Indiana legislature on how school systems across Indiana use virtual, or what some call, "e-learning" days, the Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation announced on Wednesday, that they are making changes to the calendar for the upcoming 2022-23 school year.
New Indiana Law Restricting Number of Virtual Learning Days Goes Into Effect July 1st
House Bill 1093 passed with bipartisan support earlier this year and was signed into law by Governor Eric Holcomb on March 15th. According to Indianapolis PBS affiliate, WFYI-TV, the 21-page bill covers a wide range of education topics including how school systems handle school board meetings and who schools can hire to teach. The bill also contained wording restricting the number of e-learning days school corporations can use, which led some corporations, such as the EVSC, to adjust their upcoming school calendars.
Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation Changes 2022-23 School Calendar
Virtual learning days are a by-product of the COVID pandemic and for a good portion of the pandemic, replaced the classroom as the way students received instruction from their teachers. As schools across the state slowly brought students back to their classrooms, the virtual learning remained for those students and parents who were concerned about the spread of the virus. As case numbers decreased and more schools required students to be in the classroom, many continued using virtual learning days in place of snow days or during teacher development days. The new law restricts school corporations to only three virtual learning days during the school year. The law also requires those days to include at least 50% teacher-led instruction, meaning students will have to be on their computer during a designated class time like they would be if they were in the school building. As it stands now, whenever a virtual learning day is used, teachers provide assignments their students can work on at their own pace during the day.
According to an announcement on the EVSC's Facebook page Wednesday afternoon, they have decided to change both October 20th, 2022, and March 9th, 2023 from "E-Learning/staff development virtual days" to "traditional, in-person instruction days."
The newly updated calendar can be found on the EVSC website.
[Source: Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation on Facebook / WFYI / WTHR]