Calendar Adjustments for Second Semester 2021-2022

Starting the second semester (January 18, 2022), the Ames Community School District is adjusting the daily dismissal time at each of our levels. The action was board-approved on Thursday, December 16, 2021.

Each building will dismiss 25 minutes earlier than the normal current dismissal time. The elementary schools will remove the Wednesday early dismissal at 2:05 PM and adopt the secondary professional development schedule.

Note: These adjustments do not impact Northwood Preschool Center. Northwood will operate on their same schedule and will have school when the rest of the District has full-day professional development days as identified below. 

Here are the current and second semester dismissal times:

Current Dismissal Time

• Elementary Schools – 3:30 PM MTThF / 2:05 Wednesday
• Ames Middle School – 3:15 PM
• Ames High School – 3:05 PM

Second Semester Dismissal Times (effective January 18, 2022)

• Elementary Schools – 3:05 PM
• Ames Middle School – 2:50 PM
• Ames High School – 2:40 PM

Professional Development:

As noted above, elementary schools will adjust to the secondary professional development schedule. As a result, they will do away with the Wednesday early dismissal and adopt full days of professional development. District-wide professional development days will take place on the following dates:

• February 7, 2022
• April 11, 2022
• May 9, 2022

Reason for Change:

As a District, we have experienced substantial staff shortages in substitute teachers and support staff positions in all of our buildings. As a result, teachers have been routinely asked to cover other duties within their buildings. As such, teachers are missing time to plan for instruction, provide feedback to students, design assessments, or meet in their professional learning communities. This calendar adjustment will allow for more time for teachers to ensure high-quality assessments and instruction. 

Additional Information:

These adjustments will still allow the Ames CSD to meet the required 1,080 hours of instructional time. It also has built-in time for two snow days that students would not have to make up. In the event that we get to three snow days, we would explore one of two options: 1) convert a spring professional development day back to an instructional day, or 2) add time back into the instructional day later in the year. 

Transportation:

For families who utilize bussing, you can generally expect that drop off times will be 25 minutes earlier than normal starting the second semester on January 18, 2022. Those times will be updated under the Transportation tab within Infinite Campus as we approach that date.

Summary:

• Calendar adjustment will begin second semester (January 18, 2022).
• All buildings will dismiss 25 minutes earlier than the normal schedule (excluding Northwood)
• Elementary buildings will not have Wednesday early dismissal. 
• Elementary buildings will adopt secondary professional development days.