FORT MYERS, Fla. — The Lee County School district will let students out early 4 days next year.
Teachers, like Annette Miller in Lee County, are feeling hesitant to jump for joy.
“We only saw this and know if it because of the school calendar that they produce so teachers can look and see the school calendar for next year,” said Miller.
Miller says beyond the marked calendar, no other information has been given to teachers.
She says many of her co-workers are wondering if the new dates mean time off for teachers or just time spent without students.
“Are teachers expected to be there all day long even though it says half days for students but yet we still stay there all day long? Because you have to remember that just because we are not in the classroom all day without students, does not mean that the stress level and what we are expected to do, goes away,” said Miller.
These are the days that will be early release for Lee County School District:
8/31 and 10/26 in 2022
2/22 and 4/26 in 2023
The school district says on those days students will be let out of class two hours early.
During that time teachers will be able to work on their lesson plans for the week.
The district says the hope is that by giving teachers additional time to plan, they will eliminate some of their stress.
Teachers like Mrs. Miller hope that their schools will ask teachers if a half-day is what works best for them.
“At the elementary level, it may look totally different than the high school level and same thing with middle school. So asking all the teachers to have that same type of platform I think is a little disingenuous. I think they need to say to the leaders and principals of the schools look at what your needs are for your teachers,” said Miller.
In the past, Miller says the only half days they received were when students were testing.
With the first early release day not until next fall,
Miller hopes the district will take the time and let teachers turn what she says is a good start, into a great idea.
“This is the time where you can say we heard you we are going to follow through with what you asked. Not, well we heard you but yet we will continue doing what we are doing,” said Miller.
