Parents tell Muhlenberg County board NTI days harm instruction, call for in-person makeup days

Two parents urged the Muhlenberg County Board of Education on Monday to reduce the district’s use of non-traditional instruction, or NTI, days and to instead make up missed instructional time with traditional in-person days.

Amy Nelson of Greenville and Charity Milton, both parents of elementary-school students, used the meeting’s public-comment period to describe how repeated NTI days have affected learning and family routines.

Nelson said the district has used 13 NTI days this school year and argued that “a school day cannot be reduced to a couple of worksheets.” She said elementary students “require the guidance of a responsible adult when they are away from their teachers” and that students who receive special services such as speech and occupational therapy lose access to those supports during NTI days.

“Parents and other caregivers cannot provide the environment and the level of instruction equivalent to a school day,” Nelson said, adding that students who are already struggling “fall even further behind.”

Charity Milton said her two sons attend Greenville Elementary and told the board that NTI work can amount to minutes of seat time. Milton said she timed her older child during three recent NTI days and found the student’s NTI packets took “on an average of 8 to 10 minutes,” which she said is not equivalent to a six-hour instructional day.

Both speakers acknowledged that public safety can require remote instruction at times, but they argued the district is over-using the NTI option. Milton said families who work outside the home do not have daytime access to teachers and that supervising and helping with NTI assignments after a workday is “unreasonable and unfair” to parents and employers.

Board members did not take action on the speakers’ requests during the public-comment period. The comments were recorded during the meeting’s public-comment segment and were not attached to any immediate policy change or vote.

The parents offered specific concerns about equity and instructional quality, calling on the board to prioritize keeping missed days as in-person makeup days rather than relying on NTI. They asked the district to review whether NTI assignments are checked for accuracy and thoroughness or simply recorded as completion marks.