The Tamaqua Area School District’s administrators hope to add flexible instruction days for the coming school year.

Superintendent Ray Kinder asked the school board Tuesday to consider allowing them to apply for up five days for 2025-26 school year to allow for instruction on days when circumstances don’t allow for in-school learning.

“We do believe in instruction … kids in front of teachers sitting in classrooms as being the best for the overwhelming majority,” he said.

“However, there could be some use to having (flexible instruction days) and having the availability of them, “he said.

Flexible instruction days, or FIDs, began pre-COVID as a way for schools to get in the required number of instruction days before the June 30 deadline, Kinder explained.

They were intended to be used after snow make up days were exhausted, possibly due to a late-winter storm, he said.

During COVID, districts shifted to virtual learning days, but as the pandemic waned districts continued to use these virtual days as snow days, he said.

The state Department of Education stopped the practice and required districts to shift back to FIDs, he said.

“So we have been hesitant, because again, we truly believe in the instruction that goes on in our classrooms every day as being the best for the majority of our students,” he said. “However, we believe there are certain situations there could be a benefit to it.”

Recently, the district lost instruction days due to weather and transportation issues due to the cold, Kinder said. Some of those days could have been used for instruction, if the district had this option.

Kinder also pointed out that being able to work online helps prepare students for today’s world, and those students who go on to college may also have online components.

Board members asked if all students would be logging in to do lessons, and Kinder said that younger children in kindergarten and early elementary are probably doing static work that has been prepared for them. Older students would likely be doing online work.

The FIDs, if the board approves them, would be at the discretion of the superintendent, ensuring students stay connected to their studies and learning when there are gaps in the school year, Kinder said.

Board Vice President Nicholas Boyle said he understands the need to have the days, should cancellations start to push back graduation and the end of the school year.

But districts seem to be using them to eliminate snow days, which he supports, Boyle said.

“It gives the kids a break,” he said. “Who doesn’t like a snow day?”

Boyle asked if the district would have had school during the recent string of cancellations, if there hadn’t been transportation issues due to the cold.

Kinder believes two of the days could have been instruction days, if it wasn’t a problem with the buses.

Board members wanted to know how the FIDs would be used, and Kinder explained that he would want the flexibility to be able to call a snow day when warranted and a FID when appropriate.

For instance, if there is an ice storm, no one is going out to play in the ice, or go sleigh riding in the ice, Kinder said.

“So, those days would make a little bit more sense, than days when kids can go out and be a kid and go sleigh riding and do those types of things,” he said.

Assistant Superintendent Dr. Stephen Toth said they all agree that students in seats in front of a teacher is the best way for them to learn.

But there are situations, such as the equipment problems, where everyone is sitting at home, and they would have been in school if there weren’t equipment problems, Toth said.

“This gives us an opportunity not to lose those days,” he said.

Teachers must have lessons designed throughout the year that work with what they’re teaching in the classroom ready for situations where FIDs are used, Toth explained.

Kinder also told the board that some districts have guidelines as to when the FIDs could be used, but it really comes down to making the best decision for the students given the situation.