Seneca Valley To Test 'Flexible Instruction Day' Concept

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – The calendar has turned to December and that means snow will likely be arriving soon. That also means snow days for area students.

However, a local school district has been selected by the Pennsylvania Department of Education to test out a new teaching concept to prevent snow days from piling up.

Seneca Valley School District will turn to technology to test out a flexible instruction day (FID).

"It gives us a chance to educate kids and not just lose that day," said Dr. Sean P. McCarty, the school district's assistant superintendent. "If you lose three or four days, that's a tremendous amount of instruction that we lose."

On Friday, Feb. 12, students will stay home from school, but it is not a day off. Instead, students will be taught over the Internet.

According to a statement on the school district's website, "The instructional delivery approach for students on this day will be a combination of online and offline assignments, dependent on the teacher, subject and student grade level."

It could be through cyber, it could be through work that's sent home," said McCarty.

Statewide, only 15 school districts went through the extensive application process to get FID days approved. Seneca Valley says it's the only public school in this region.

According to our news partners at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the district is mindful that all students do not have Internet access at home. As a result, all students will have 10 days to complete the work assigned for that day.

If the test goes well, the district could implement more flexible instructional days in the future during inclement weather.

"A FID is deemed as a school day and counts toward the number of instructional days/hours required by law," the district said.

Seneca Valley has been approved for three days, but will only use one this school year to see how it goes. Then, they will make tweaks to its plan to be ready to use the FID days next year when they are needed.

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