Apr 18, 2020 3 min read

Parents in the McGuffey School District are upset at the administration’s decision to extend the school year from June 3 to June 15, despite Gov. Tom Wolf permitting school districts’ school year to be shorter than the state mandated 180 instructional days.

The school board will vote Tuesday whether or not to approve the new calendar.

More than 960 residents signed a petition against the plan to extend the school year, and parents vowed they will not allow their children to continue to go to online school after June 3.

Additionally, 195 people attended the school board’s virtual meeting on Thursday via Zoom to express their frustrations and to share problems students have encountered with distance learning.

The district ended its grading period on March 13, with grades for the third nine weeks due May 1. No grades for assignments will be given for the fourthth nine-week period, so final grades will be determined by averaging the first three nine weeks’ grades together.

The eight educational days on the proposed new calendar would be used for additional professional development days for some teachers, while other teachers would continue teaching online classes, if agreed to by the McGuffey Education Association.

Parent Kathleen Croft said her family does not have internet access, and that helping children with online learning has been difficult for parents who are still working.

“This is not education. This is an attempt at education,” said Croft. “This is creating a tremendous amount of stress in our McGuffey communities and our McGuffey students. Pay the teachers for the eight days and let us out early.”

Lack of internet access is an inequality for rural school districts, including McGuffey, Superintendent Erica Kolat conceded Thursday, noting nearly 35% of McGuffey students don’t have access to broadband internet service.

The school district increased internet access at the middle school and high school to the parking lot, where students and their parents can access it from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

It also has applied for a grant to purchase Chromebooks to distribute to families without access to laptops, and to purchase hotspots that would provide internet coverage in elementary schools’ parking lots.

One parent said she would not sit in a parking lot with her children to complete assignments that won’t be graded. Other parents said they are considering alternate school options for the upcoming school year, including sending their children to cyberschool.

Kolat acknowledged there have been challenges, but said in a statement during the school board meeting, “These are unprecedented times for all of us. Let us not forget our primary purpose as a school system: providing educational experiences for our children.”

Regarding the petition, Kolat said, “While I will always advocate for opportunities for our children to learn with their peers and our phenomenal teachers, I will always respect the difficult choices you must make as parents.”

Kolat said waiving the instructional days might not seem significant, they “represent half a million dollars in taxpayers’ money invested in the professional services that our 140 teachers were contracted to provide.”

She continued, “I believe these professional services and the education they provide our children are worth every penny, and I would never recommend waiving the services that our citizens have already paid for and the professional services for which our colleagues have already committed to provide.”