ASHLAND — The Ashland County Community Academy approved changes to its bell schedule ahead of the 2023-2024 school year at its Wednesday meeting.
According to Superintendent Shannon Lusk, the change came because staff wanted a prep period during the school day. She said it’s something that hasn’t existed at the academy since she’s been there.
“It really wasn’t working very well for our staff,” Lusk said.
As the schedule was, teachers only had a prep period at the beginning of the school day. They arrived at school at 7:30 a.m. and prepared for the day until students entered the classroom at 8:15 a.m.
This year, staff will not arrive at the building until 7:40 a.m. They will still have time at the beginning of the day to prepare for students to enter their classrooms.
Staff will also have planning periods throughout the day this year. Lusk reworked the schedule to make the planning periods possible. She said eighth period advisory time was cut to make the change, and each class period had two minutes scraped from the previous schedule.
Advisory time that typically took place during eighth period will be replaced during enrichment time, which happens in the mornings.
“I kind of wish I had one [a planning period] when I was teaching here, but I didn’t,” Lusk said. “So, I understood where they were coming from.”
Lusk also noted that enrollment for ACCA sits at 83 students. That number may increase as the school year looms. She said some enrollment applications are still pending.
“The influx of applications usually happens next week, and during the second week of September after they’ve been at their home school for a while,” Lusk said.
In other business, the board approved vendor contracts ahead of the school year, including a public transportation contract and a school resource officer contract with the Ashland County Sheriff’s Department.
Ashland County Community Academy will host an open house ahead of the new school year. That open house event takes place on Aug. 28 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The first day of school will be Aug. 29.