By Shelby Stewart-Soldan
Staff Writer
OXFORD TWP. — During the regular meeting on Oct. 10, the Oxford board of education unanimously approved the Labor Day waiver.
The waiver allows the district to start school prior to Labor Day, and is required that they do so in the state of Michigan.
“This is to align the sequence of courses for our students who are enrolled in our early middle college program,” said Ryan Reid, assistant superintendent of human resources. “We anticipate fewer dropped course and better overall student outcomes. When our early middle college staff and students work together before and during the first weeks of school at the college level, the trend is leading towards success.”
The last waiver was approved in June of 2019 for a three-year period. The district was able to retroactively apply this waiver to include the start of the 2023-2024 school year. Moving forward, the waiver will be brought to the board at the beginning of the summer to meet the deadline.
“This is not the first time we’ve had to approve one retroactively,” said Chad Urchike, financial specialist with the Michigan Department of Education. “The department has approved the waiver for another three years. So the school can continue to start before Labor Day as long as they continue with the early middle college program.”