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Bristol Borough SD board approves application for flexible instruction days
Summary
The Bristol Borough SD board voted May 28 to authorize an application to the Pennsylvania Department of Education seeking approval to use up to five flexible instruction days in 2025'26, allowing the district to count virtual instruction in lieu of snow-day makeups if PDE grants the request.
The Bristol Borough SD board on May 28 voted to authorize staff to submit an application to the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) to request flexible instruction days (FIDs) for the 2025'26 school year.
A board member moved to "approve permission to make an application to the Pennsylvania Department of Education for a flexible instruction day, FID program the 2025, 2026 school year," and the president recorded the motion as moved by Mr. D'Angelo and seconded by Mrs. Paglione. The motion carried; the transcript records the chair announcing "Motion carries" but does not record a roll-call tally.
Dr. Davis explained the program and why the district requested approval: "Every school district when we have inclement weather, we now have the utilization of actually keeping our students home and, we can conduct instruction virtually." She told the board that PDE had set a near-term window for applications and cautioned that "if you did not submit an application for the additional 5 days by June 1 ... you'll not be able to get the flexible instructional days." She described the options districts must outline in their application, including whether instruction will be synchronous (live) or asynchronous (assignments students complete on their own), and said the application must show how the district will execute virtual instruction.
Board members said the policy relieves pressure to extend the academic year following storms and noted the district also has built-in make-up days; Dr. Davis said those built-in days plus FIDs could effectively provide more days of flexibility. The board did not record a specific yes/no tally in the published transcript; the president simply announced the motion carried.
Next steps: district staff will complete and submit the PDE application before the deadline and will bring any PDE conditions or approvals back to the board for implementation details.
