Oklahoma State Board of Education: Schools can teach on Saturdays if needed

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — The Oklahoma State Board of Education live-streamed members approving a waiver allowing classes to be held on Saturdays for the upcoming 2020-21 school year.

The Board voted 5-2 approving the waiver, allowing schools to count any instruction offered on Saturdays toward the state’s minimum requirement of 180 days of instruction or the equivalent in hours and minutes.

Board members Estela Hernandez of Oklahoma City and Kurt Bollenbach of Kingfisher voted no.

The decision to have instructional days on Saturdays will be up to each school district and not enforced by the state.

Classes would only be held on Saturday on an as-needed basis.

Oklahoma Schools were closed in March just after Spring Break due to the COVID-19 pandemic and districts shifted to their own versions of distance learning for the rest of the semester.