RAYTOWN, Mo. – The Raytown School Board will meet on Monday to discuss next year’s calendar. The biggest issue will be the need for early release every Wednesday.
The district said that it needs the early release days because of both time and budget issues. Right now, the board says they have no meeting time for staff or regular training time set aside. There are sporadic professional development days on the calendar, but officials say they are not sufficient for the training the teachers need.
Currently, the district is spending more than $80,000 a year to pay for substitute teachers so that teachers can train during the day. The district says that, even with day care for parents who can’t pick up their children early, it will still relieve the budget greatly to have one early release day every week.
The district says that while some teachers can attend after school training, not all are able to.
Seven area school districts currently have some form of early release in place.
