DPS superintendent to recommend year-round schools operate at traditional schedule in 2020-21

The superintendent of Durham Public Schools will recommend at a specially called meeting later this month that year-round schools operate on a traditional calendar for the 2020-21 school year.

Posted 12:45 a.m. Jul 9, 2020 — Updated 12:45 a.m. Jul 9, 2020

Jason O. Boyd

, Multiplatform producer

DURHAM, N.C. — The superintendent of Durham Public Schools will recommend at a specially called meeting later this month that year-round schools operate on a traditional calendar for the 2020-21 school year.

Chip Sudderth, chief communications officer for Durham Public Schools, released a statement that read in part:

"In an effort to ensure the best possible start to the school year for all students in 2020-21, Superintendent Pascal Mubenga will recommend to the Durham Public Schools Board of Education that for one year only DPS’s year-round schools operate on the traditional calendar. Teacher and staff salary schedules will be unaffected."

“We need more time to ensure that all of the logistics are in place for a great school year,” Mubenga said. “Temporarily having almost all of our schools on the same calendar will also help us make the most of our resources, which are stretched due to COVID-19.”

He also suggested year-round schools begin the school year with online instruction as part of the system's "Plan B" for moderate social distancing. DPS will open all elementary and middle schools — including year-round schools — with in-person instruction.

The recommendations will be made by Mubenga as part of a specially called meeting of the school board on July 16, at 6:30 p.m., Sudderth said in the press release.

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