Prior to the inception of non-traditional instruction (NTI), Kentucky school districts lost many days of instructional time due to health or safety related closures. NTI ultimately allows the continuation of learning days without the need to prolong the school year.
Hardin County Schools released a statement on social media earlier this month stating that our district would use five typical snow days before redirecting students to NTI days. As of last Monday, Jan. 22, five snow days have been utilized.
Central Hardin has taken this into consideration and wants students to be prepared if the county were to receive another spell of poor weather, as the current intention would be to declare an NTI day so forth.
“We would ask students to be online in a shortened morning schedule. You are expected to be in a Google Meet for each of those five 30-minute blocks. Teachers will have some lunch time, and then if you need help, your teachers will explain to you how to reach them during the afternoon time,” principal Tim Isaacs said.
Since the infamous global quarantine, it is apparent that a majority of students dread the thought of a Google Meet and may feel inclined to treat an NTI day like a snow day. However, participation rates really do matter.
“Way back before Covid started, NTI for weather got passed through the legislature. So, like we take attendance during the school day, there are rules from KDE (Kentucky Department of Education) ensuring that we have participation for it to actually count as a day of school,” math teacher April York said.
With this condensed schedule, the teachers and admin are trying to be considerate of your time as students will not be expected to be online constantly focused the entire day. Though, this comes with the expectation that students will log into their Google Meets and be proactive with their studies during the allotted instruction time.
“Teachers have to post to a Google form their participation rates and the state can audit this. If the state does not feel like we put enough effort into it or got enough participation, they can say the days don’t count and we would be forced to make those up,” Isaacs said. “We are highly likely to be a district that gets audited — the bigger ones are almost always audited, and they can ask for work samples.”
To recap: if you do not want to be in school in June, get on your Google Meets.
Co-Op students should direct any questions to Mrs. Spratt or Mrs. Thompson for how NTI days will affect their schedule.
Stay tuned to @hardincountyschools and @chhstimes on social media for updates.
