Students start the year at Sterling Public Schools

STERLING – Sterling Public Schools welcomed students back to class Wednesday.

The district is implementing new PLC Early Dismissal Days starting Aug. 26 and most Fridays after that. On those days, Sterling High School and Washington and Lincoln elementary schools will be out at 1:55 p.m., while Challand Middle School will dismisst at 2 p.m., and Franklin and Jefferson elementary schools at 2:05 p.m.

The PLCs are professional learning communities, and that remaining hour in the school day will be so teachers can meet collaboratively and discuss ways to assist students who are having difficulty in a given subject or situation. Teacher evaluations will be data-driven and their approach will be solution-oriented.

According to a letter from Tad Everett, superintendent of schools, this will let these groups “take a deep dive into their student’s work, then research and discuss ways in which they can achieve better results.”

Three times during the school year, Fridays will be a half-day, and these will be dedicated to staff professional development. Those dates are Oct. 7, Feb. 3 and April 14.

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Chynna Parker snaps a picture of Amiyah Parker (left), Emillio Serenil, and Kendrick Parker outside of Jefferson School on Wednesday for the first day of class. Students will start a full day of classes on Thursday. (Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@shawmedia.com/credit)