On Thursday, Jan. 19, 2024, the Lincoln Public Schools’ (LPS) faculty union the Lincoln Education Association (LEA) met to discuss upcoming changes for the next school year. They agreed to remove Professional Learning Communities (PLC) which were every Tuesday at 2:03 p.m. for high schools. Middle schools and elementary schools received one PLC Tuesday at the end of each month.

“I know the math department specifically is going to miss them (PLC days), because we utilized them,” math teacher Mrs. Tiffany Ogden said. “We liked having shorter periods of time more often. It gave us a chance to talk to each other more and figure out what to do.”

In place of PLC days, LEA and LPS union decided on dates that students would get off and teachers would come into the school for a plan day. The days are Tuesday, Sept. 3, Tuesday, Oct. 15, Tuesday, Nov. 5, Friday, Jan. 3, Tuesday, Feb. 18 and Monday, April 21.

“The extra days given aren’t going to allow us to make immediate changes to what we’re doing, but it’s going to allow us to make long term adjustments,” science teacher Mr. Kevin Schrad said. “I’m used to having an adjusted schedule on Tuesday.”

Teachers spent their PLC times differently. It was used as extra planning, making sure classes were on track or weekly check-ins with the rest of the department.

“During PLC time, we as a department used that as a weekly planning and making sure that we were sharing ideas,” Ogden said. “This year will be an adjustment and we will see how it goes.”

Not only are schools having to adjust to not having PLC days, the schools are also having to adjust with the change of moving Fall Break earlier to Friday, Oct. 11, – Tuesday, Oct. 15. The reason for the change is to allow all four quarters to have 42 school days to even out learning.

LPS offers a digital calendar for individuals to check the new school days.