At their March 26, 2018 meeting, the Shoreline School Board unanimously voted to approve a recommendation to adopt an early release calendar model to support student success through a research-based instructional professional development model. This will change next year’s school calendar (2018-2019) from a 175-day school year with full non-student days throughout the year to a 180-day school year with a weekly 100-minute early release for students on Wednesdays when there are five days of school. There will not be an early release during weeks when there are not five days of school, such as weeks with holidays or other non-student days. You can see the committee's presentation slides and full recommendation HERE.

2018-2019 Early Release Wednesdays

September: 12, 19, 26

October: 3, 10, 17, 24, 31

November: 7, 28

December: 5, 12, 19

January: 9, 16

February: 6, 13, 27

March: 6, 13, 20, 27

April: 3, 10, 17

May: 1, 8, 15, 22

You can find Early Release bell times for each school HERE

Having heard from families and anticipating that this change will have an impact on families and create childcare/after-school supervision needs, Shoreline Schools has partnered with the Dale Turner Family YMCA, City of Shoreline, as well as expanding the Children’s Center’s ability to serve more students, in order to meet those needs. Recognizing that families who may want to access those childcare options on the partial release days, the School Board approved offering scholarships of $50 per month for students who qualify for free or reduced-priced meals for the first year to help ease the transitions.

Learn more about childcare and after-school supervision options offered by the Children’s Center.

Learn more about childcare and after-school supervision options offered by the Dale Turner Family YMCA.

To support our middle school students on partial release days, the Hang Time Program hours will be extended on those days. You can find more information on the Einstein Hang Time Program HERE and about the Kellogg Hang Time Program HERE.

The City of Shoreline will also extend their Teen Center hours at the Richmond Highlands Recreation Center on partial release days for high school students. There is no fee for the Teen Center. Learn more about the Teen Center HERE.

Read the Frequently Asked Questions below to learn more about the partial release calendar recommendation adopted by the School Board and how it was developed.

Q1. Why did the District adopt a weekly partial (early) release day?

Our expectations of students, and therefore of teachers, have continued to grow and change. Instructional staff will use this time to:

• Learn new strategies to teach students with increasingly diverse learning needs
• Review student learning data to evaluate the effectiveness of instruction and adjust teaching to improve outcomes for students
• Implement new curriculum that is designed to prepare students for a more complex world
• Master and incorporate new technology into the learning environment
• Plan and prepare for their daily instruction of students

Q2. Won’t this result in less instructional time for students?

With implementation of a partial release model, the amount of instructional time for students will be restructured with little to no reduction in overall instructional time. Shoreline will return to a 180-day student year, adding back five full days of school, and lengthen the existing early release days.

Although we have not finalized the exact length of the early release days, we expect the release to be between 1 ½ and 2 hours per release day. Shoreline will continue to meet or exceed the minimum hours of instruction required by the State of Washington.

Q3. Why have the early release day on Wednesday? Why not Monday or Fridays?

Being able to adequately staff after-school programs is one of the top considerations in recommending early release on Wednesdays. We have heard from our Children’s Center Extended Care supervisors and partners at the Dale Turner Family YMCA and City of Shoreline that finding staffing for that short period of time on Mondays or Fridays would be difficult to staff and lead to limits on the numbers of students we could serve in those programs.

Q4. How was this recommendation developed?

A joint committee convened in the 2015-2016 school year to examine a best practice professional development model that research has shown supports higher levels of academic achievement for students. Recognizing that this model of instructional professional development would have a direct benefit to our students, the committee began presenting their recommendations and collecting feedback from families, staff and community in the spring of 2016.

While there was high support for providing teachers with the most effective professional development and collaboration model, there were concerns expressed about the limited options for childcare on those partial release days. Recognizing more after school supervision options needed to be developed before considering adopting the partial release model, the Board of Directors authorized additional study through the Partial Release Stakeholder Advisory Committee (PRSAC) to study the impacts of a partial day release model and seek partnerships to develop programs to meet families’ needs on those days. The committee has met throughout this school year and developed a number of partnerships to provide options for all families who want to access them.

The PRSAC recently held a series of community meetings to present their recommendation and shared information on the additional after-school options that would be available on the partial release days. The committee also collected feedback and answered questions from attendees. They presented their recommendation to the School Board on March 12, 2018 and the Board unanimously approved the recommendation at their March 26, 2018 meeting.

Q5. Who can I contact if I have any questions?

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact your school’s office or the District Public Information Office at (206) 393-4412.