A calendar change recently approved by the Lakeland School Board means students will not return to school until January 7, 2021. Students were originally scheduled to return on January 4 after the Christmas break. January 4, 5, and 6 will now be professional development days for the teachers.
According to Lakeland School Board member Jeremy Burnett, the change was necessary for two reasons. In an online post he said, “1) it provides a full 14 days from Christmas till students return. As we saw surges of COVID from Thanksgiving, we should expect the same after Christmas. This should help prevent those spreads in the buildings. 2) it gives teachers time to prepare for students’ return. Teachers have worked so hard making this year as positive of an experience as possible for our students, but have given up preparation time ( think planning period, lunch) that the should benefit from having this time to collaborate within their subject/grade professional learning communities.”
UPDATED:
Matt Adler, Lakeland Prep Principle, sent out the following email this morning (Dec. 15, 2020) with more information.
“Last night, December 14th, the LSS Board of Education approved a change to the 2020-21 instructional calendar. Based on this change, students will return to school from Winter Break on Thursday, January 7th instead of Monday, January 4th. Previously scheduled extracurricular activities will be allowed to proceed at the discretion of sponsors. LEAP will begin on Thursday, January 7th.”
