Decision delayed on required instructional hours vs. instructional days for Decorah Schools

The decision, which was to have been made by March 1, regarding whether Decorah Schools would operate on a 180 day or 1080 hours schedule for the school year has been delayed until May. The Department of Education backed off on the original deadline and the legislature is working on "fast track," according to the Iowa Association of School Boards, to correct their originally "seriously flawed" law. The original law failed to recognize the problems associated with early dismissals or late starts related to bad weather. The issue of what counts as a full acceptable day centers around total hours attended, minus lunch time. The flawed legislation would have resulted in schools not receiving "credit" for a day with a 2 hour late start or early dismissal.

Superintendent Haluska said he would give the board a recommendation after the legislature finalized the requirements. He was optimistic they would come up with some more palatable options than originally presented.  There were no public comments at the related public hearing on the issue held at the beginning of the board meeting.