News

Flex calendar schools join traditional calendar schedule for '20-21

By Lightning Reports, Published: May 12, 2020

Bruce Drysdale and Hendersonville elementary schools will operate on the traditional calendar for the 2020-21 school year, scheduled to begin Aug. 17, dropping the year-round flex calendar for one year.

The Henderson County School Board voted unanimously on Monday to align the two elementary schools in the city with the traditional calendar for the 2020-21 school year. Social distancing measures could remain in place through July, when the flex calendar schools were expected to open, and teachers and parents are saying they do not want to start a new school year with distance learning.

Although the county's Learn from Home virtual school model has been successful during the existing school closure, because of the relationships students and staff had nurtured this school year,  a new school year would ideally start with in-person instruction. Remore learning on the first day of school would be especially hard on kindergarteners, who are brand new to school, said Superintendent Bo Caldwell. That position was supported by the school board and principals of both Bruce Drysdale and Hendersonville elementaries.

The decision is only for the 2020-21 school year and the schools will return to the flex calendar in 2021-22.

Caldwell told the School Board that he had been appointed to a statewide committee on re-entry to classroom instruction. So far, the state has issued no guidance on how the reopening will work, he said.