Bill Text: NJ S1707 | 2020-2021 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Establishes flexible instructional day program to allow students to continue instruction at home when district must close its schools and to permit district to count flexible instructional days in meeting 180-day school year requirement.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-02-13 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Education Committee [S1707 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2020-S1707-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator THOMAS H. KEAN, JR.
District 21 (Morris, Somerset and Union)
SYNOPSIS
Establishes flexible instructional day program to allow students to continue instruction at home when district must close its schools and to permit district to count flexible instructional days in meeting 180-day school year requirement.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning flexible instructional days and supplementing P.L.1996, c.138 (C.18A:7F-5 et seq.).
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. As used in this section:
"Department" means the Department of Education.
"Flexible instructional day" means a day:
(1) that qualifies as a day under the requirement that a school district provide public school facilities for at least 180 days during the school year in order to receive State aid in accordance with section 9 of P.L.1996, c.138 (C.18A:7F-9);
(2) on which the school district is required to close the schools of the district due to any of the following: a disease epidemic; a hazardous weather condition; a law enforcement emergency; the inoperability of school buses or other equipment necessary to the school district's operation; damage to a school building; and any other temporary circumstance rendering any portion of a school building unfit or unsafe for use; and
(3) on which instruction is provided to the students of the district at home through the use of technology or some other method identified by the school district.
"Program" means a flexible instructional day program that allows a school district to use no more than five flexible instructional days during a school year.
b. The Department of Education shall establish a flexible instructional day program. The department shall issue guidance and develop a standard application form for a school district seeking to participate in a flexible instructional day program. The guidance and form shall be posted on the department's Internet website.
c. The form developed pursuant to subsection b. of this section shall require the following information:
(1) The procedure for a school district to notify students, parents, and teaching staff members that a flexible instructional day is instituted;
(2) The procedure for instituting a flexible instructional day, including whether the school district will use technology. If technology will be used by the school district, the procedure shall include information regarding accommodations for students and teaching staff members without Internet access at home and for digital device access at home and for digital access for families and teaching staff members without technology or an insufficient amount of technology for the number of children in the household;
(3) The responsibilities of teaching staff members and students during a flexible instructional day;
(4) The procedure for identifying student participation during a flexible instructional day;
(5) Assurance of compliance with the "Individuals with Disabilities Education Act," 20 U.S.C. s.1400 et seq., during a flexible instructional day; and
(6) Any additional information that the department deems necessary to determine whether to accept or deny an application to establish a flexible instructional day program in the school district.
d. An application submitted to the department by a school district seeking to establish a flexible instructional day program which is approved by the department shall be valid for a period of three years. A school district's application to establish or renew a flexible instructional day program shall be submitted to the department on or before June 1 and the department shall notify the school district if its application or renewal is approved or denied by August 1 of the same year.
e. The department shall issue an annual survey related to the efficacy of flexible instructional days on or before April 30 to each school district with an approved application. Each school district shall return the survey to the department by June 30 of the same year.
f. Nothing in this section shall be construed to supersede or preempt the rights, remedies, and procedures afforded to teaching staff members or a collective bargaining unit under federal or State law or any provision of a collective bargaining agreement entered into by the school district.
2. This act shall take effect on the first day of the first full school year next following the date of enactment, except the Commissioner of Education may take any anticipatory administrative action in advance as shall be necessary for the implementation of this act.
STATEMENT
This bill requires the Department of Education to establish a flexible instructional day program. Under a flexible instructional day program a school district is permitted to offer up to five flexible instructional days which are defined in the bill as:
(1) days which fulfill the 180-day school year requirement that districts must meet in order to receive State aid;
(2) days on which the district must close the schools of the district due to inclement weather or another type of emergency; and
(3) days on which instruction is provided to students at home, through the use of technology or some other method identified by the school district.
A school district seeking to participate in the program must submit an application to the department for its approval. The application form will include:
· the procedure for a school district to notify students, parents, and teaching staff members that a flexible instructional day is instituted;
· the procedure for instituting a flexible instructional day, including whether the school district will use technology. If technology will be used by the school district, the procedure must include information regarding accommodations for students and teaching staff members without Internet access at home or an insufficient amount of technology for the number of children in the household;
· the responsibilities of teaching staff members and students during a flexible instructional day;
· the procedure for identifying student participation during a flexible instructional day for attendance purposes;
· assurance of compliance with the "Individuals with Disabilities Education Act," during a flexible instructional day; and
· any additional information that the department deems necessary.
If the department approves a district's initial application or a renewal application, the approval will be valid for a period of three years. Under the provisions of the bill, the department will issue an annual survey on or before April 30 to every school district that is participating in a flexible instructional day program. The survey will provide information to the department regarding the efficacy of the program.
The bill states that nothing in the bill's provisions may be construed to supersede or preempt the rights, remedies, and procedures afforded to teaching staff members or a collective bargaining unit under federal or State law or any provision of a collective bargaining agreement entered into by the school district.
