Los Angeles school officials will consider a plan to extend the next school year by adding one week at the start in August and another week in January after winter break to address learning loss and trauma suffered by students during the yearlong pandemic-forced school closures, Supt. Austin Beutner announced Monday.
The Board of Education for the nation’s second-largest school system will get a first look at the plan at its Wednesday meeting. Beutner said that in a survey a majority of families expressed interest in extending the school year. Each of the additional weeks would be “split between time for teachers and school staff to plan and participate in additional training and time for students to process the trauma and anxiety they’ve experienced the past year and work on learning fundamentals,” Beutner said.
He did not say whether the extra weeks would be mandatory or elective.
As schools begin a phased-in reopening this week, the school board will review other elements of the district’s academic recovery plan, which includes more reading and math teachers in elementary schools, more teachers in middle and high schools to reduce class sizes, extra staff for tutoring, additional mental health counselors and expanded services for students with special needs, such as those with disabilities.
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