SMSD board approves ending the school year two weeks early

The SMSD Board of Education unanimously approved the school year’s end date to be May 27, which is two weeks earlier than the original date of June 10. They also approved the graduation date as May 24.

After the state changed the minimum required hours students need to be in class for this school year, professional development and teacher work days now count for a whole day of class time instead of the previous half-day. This allows SMSD to count the days teachers are in school while students aren’t as full days — deducting that time from the end of the year.

The two week cut-off forces teachers to change their lesson plans once again, but principal Dr. Scott Sherman feels this won’t cause students to lose any important material needed for their future classes.

“Each curriculum is based upon what they call priority standards,” Sherman said. “Each course has eight priority standards, sometimes 10. So the teachers are focusing on the priority standards which should allow [students] to be successful next year regardless.” 

Next year, teachers will review any content students struggled with during this school year, but won’t teach any material cut from the course preceding the class. Next year’s calendar will return to a normal school year structure, according to Sherman.

As for AP and IB courses, the national test dates for this year are also currently the same as they have been since the summer.

“This has been a very hard year for students and teachers, and I think [the shortened semester is] a nice reward,” math teacher Christopher Burrows said.