There will be new guidelines for 2022 summer school starting May 23 for teachers and May 25 for students.

In 2021, students had to complete Odyssey courses for credit recovery in the computer lab. If they failed the STAAR test, they would have to be present in a summer school class. There were three periods throughout the summer school day that students who failed the STAAR test would attend, whereas credit recovery students could attend at any time in the morning. 

  For those who failed STAAR tests, retakes will be June 21-24 and those in credit recovery have until June 17 to earn class credits. Interventionist Ryan Race will be the summer school coordinator. 

 “I’m excited about summer school as usual,” Race said.  “It’s going to be bigger and better than usual. There’s going to be a lot more time. We made the changes for summer school that if a kid has credit recovery, they’re not just going to have to come for two hours, it’ll have to be four. The reasoning and logic behind that was that a lot of kids would come to summer school and not get it done, and then would be very far behind with multiple classes of Odyssey, so this way we ensure that they are going to come and get it done.”

During the 2020-2021 school year, there was an asynchronous learning option, so many of the kids who went to summer school were virtual learners during the school year. 

“Virtual learning was still an option, and many students treated school, itself, as an option,” English teacher Jennifer Moore said. 

This year, administrators will be stricter on summer school attendance issues and finishing Odyssey course work in a timely manner. 

“We’d have a lot of kids show up, get [Odyssey] turned on and then do it throughout summer,” Race said. “That’s not going to happen this year. If you’re signed up for summer school you’re going to come, and you have to be there for 75% of it, which means you can only miss around three days.” 

Administration was more lenient in 2021 due to Covid-19. This year, if there are attendance issues, those students’ Odyssey courses will be shut off. 

“We are going to do an attendance thing, and if you don’t show up we’re going to turn off your Odyssey and you will be put in the class again next year,” Race said. 

 Administrators are considering changing the grade requirement to be eligible to test out of Odyssey. Previously, if the semester average of the course was a 60 or above then there was an option to test out of Odyssey. 

“We will still have the test-out option, but the talk is that later on you’ll have to have a 65 to test-out,” Race said.