The Richmond School Board will review a second set of draft school day schedules, which Superintendent Jason Kamras shared with the public over email Thursday night.
School officials have been working to shorten screen time, after parents voiced health concerns over social media and during school board meetings. Some teachers have also expressed dissatisfaction with work hours.
For children in kindergarten and elementary school, officials propose ending live online instruction by 2 pm, with additional breaks and offline learning.
Middle school students would conclude live online instruction by 3:30 pm, and high schoolers would finish by 2:40 pm to make time for students with after-school jobs. For teachers, the drafts delineate more clear periods for planning time.
The new schedules also propose a flexible afternoon period, when students would meet individually with teachers, social workers, tutors or other specialized support staff.
“Please know that we've tried our very best to be responsive to the overarching themes we heard. At the same time, I want to acknowledge that it's simply not possible to create a schedule that fully addresses everyone's specific feedback,” Kamras said in his Thursday email.
This is the second round of draft schedules the school district proposes -- a first draft was reviewed by parents and the RPS community last month, before officials went back to the drawing board.
The Richmond school board is expected to review these draft schedules Monday evening.
Board members will also hear an update on the emergency childcare sites being set up at five Richmond schools, and they will discuss the possibility of students at governor’s schools returning to in-person instruction.