A.C.A. 6-10-106 establishes the first allowable day of class as the Monday of the week that contains August 19. For the 2024-2025 school year, that date will be Monday, August 19. The Cutter Morning Star School District, along with other district in the Dawson Educational Cooperative, is interested in applying for a waiver to start school earlier. The specific waiver being requested is to allow the applying school districts to set their individual district's first day of class to be no earlier than Monday, August 12th.
The advantages of this waiver are several:
• The fall and spring semesters would be closer to the same length.
The more unbalanced the semesters are, the greater the issue for classes that are one semester in
length.
• The alternative solution for unbalanced semesters is to not end the fall semester until after Christmas
break. This results in final exams shortly after two weeks out of school, and the possibility of exams
being repeatedly postponed due to winter weather.
• This waiver will give greater assurance of school ending in late May rather than extending into June.
Some research indicates a decrease in learning past the Memorial Day Holiday.
• Beginning school earlier automatically results in more days of instruction before spring testing. More
days of instruction will result in higher test scores,
• Activities such as football will begin next fall on the same relative date as they did this fall, with or
without the waiver, Therefore a large number of students will already be on campus to practice and
prepare for their activities, regardless of the opening date of school. In addition to students who play
football, this would include students who participate in groups such as golf, tennis, cross country,
volleyball, band, cheer, dance, ROTC, Student Council, and National Honor Society, as well as others.
We are requesting your input on whether or not the Cutter Morning Star School District should apply for an earlier start date waiver for the 2024-2025 school year. The waiver would be in effect for 5 school years if approved by the State Board of Education.
