SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento City Unified School District won't be extending the remaining school year to make up for lost instructional time due to a teacher strike.
District officials made the announcement Thursday afternoon. School for Sacramento City Unified students ends as scheduled on June 16, and the next school year will start as scheduled on Sept. 1.
"We had hoped to be able to provide additional instructional time for students this school year to recover the learning time lost due to the recent strike. Unfortunately, we were not able to reach a student-centered agreement with the Sacramento City Teachers’ Association (SCTA) to extend this school year without the necessary assurances to appropriately staff our schools, especially given the varying needs of our diverse student population," the district said in a news release.
Officials had been in talks with the SCTA as to when and how the school year was going to end. However, they weren't able to reach an agreement.
ABC10 reached out to the SCTA for comment, but the inquiry was not immediately returned.
From late March to April, an 8-day teacher strike kept students out of the classroom. Talks were meant keep the district from falling short of providing the minimum amount of instructional time as required by law.
School officials said the plan now is to add 16 days of instruction over a two-year period.
The district said they'll be seeking a waiver from the State Board of Education to reduce the financial penalty for not providing the required minimum instructional time for the 2021-2022 school year.
"We will put all of our efforts into making sure we that we prepare the strongest application for that waiver as possible," said Superintendent Jorge Aguilar.
The SCUSD Board of Education said taking time to collaborate on a future solution for recovering the lost learning time would let families plan their lives around a future change to the school calendar.
"While we tried to extend this school year, we could not receive all the necessary assurance to appropriately staff all our schools, especially given the varying needs of our diverse student population. With less than a month left in the school year, the uncertainty surrounding our schedule had reached a point where families deserved a final answer," the SCUSD Board in a statement.
SCTA president David Fisher said the district walked away from negotiations with the union to make up those days at the end of this year.
"We hope they know what they’re doing, but it seems like an awfully big gamble to just take their ball and go home and not talk about continuing discussions," Fisher said.
While the SCTA calls the move a gamble, the district disagrees.
"I wouldn’t see it as a gamble. It is a path that is viable to us, and we are committed to it," Aguilar said.
WATCH ALSO:
