LEBANON, Tenn. (WTVF) — Wilson County Schools announced a change to the school calendar Thursday, changing the last day of school to May 28 instead of the previously scheduled June 4.
The announcement came just one week before what is now the last day of classes.
The district delayed its start date by two weeks in the beginning of the school year, which in turn set extended the school year until June 4.
Parents of kids in Wilson County Schools didn't know what to believe when they saw this video from the district.
"When I saw the video which was awesome; I’m excited about it. The kids are excited and we’ll just start our summer a little early," said Courtney Grimes.
Using clips from the movie Rudy, WCS let parents know the last day school for students will now be May 28.
A week earlier than scheduled.
Most parents say they are excited about the news, and say the notice gives them enough time to make plans.
One parent told us off camera, he is worried about finding child care for that week while he and his wife are at work.
But parents say there are options from the district like summer camps.
"It takes a village, so we have a lot of other parents who are like yeah, I’ll take them if you don’t mind doing this. There’s always a good like co-op and community," said parent Leah Benner.
However, Director of Schools, Dr. Donna Wright explained in a video that the district was able to hold on to its stockpile days and complete all of its testing and instruction within the original timeframe.
"We would have been looking at a week of school with no new instruction," Wright said.
Two applications for a waiver from the Tennessee Department of Education were denied, but the third application was approved this week.
"It was a plea for the Department of Education to please take a second consideration," said Wright. "We had met the participation rate on testing. We had met attendance in fact our schools were running at and continue to run at 90% or better... so confirmation that we had taken the remaining stockpile days that had been converted into professional development days and so with that the 28th will be the last student attendance day."
In the video, Public Information Officer Bart Barker, stressed that this was not "something that we had been sitting on." Wright said the conversion of those stockpile days is what allowed the date change to happen.
"We know it appears that it's been accelerated and I know plans have been made but this is something that we had really wanted for our families but also for our teachers," said Wright.
The last day for teachers will be Wednesday, June 2. TLC and Kid's Club will be available for the week of June 1 - June 4.
Monday, May 31st is Memorial Day. All schools are closed to all teachers and staff.
For any school-related events that were scheduled for the week of June 1 - June 4, individual schools will be in contact with parents about any schedule changes for those events.
