Over the past several years the Westerville City School District has taken advantage of “Waiver Days,” approved through the Ohio Department of Education, to conduct district-wide professional development for its employees. Traditionally, Waiver Days have been held on election days in the fall and spring. Since school facilities also serve as polling sites that are open and accessible to a large number of visitors, it was believed best to not hold class on those election days. Furthermore, civic-minded students who were interested in helping at the polls had the opportunity to do so.
This school year the district will have only one Waiver Day, which is scheduled for November 6, 2012. Westerville Schools will not have a Waiver Day during the Election Day in the spring as has been done in the past. The state no longer approves Waiver Days during state testing weeks. Also, more people are voting early, which reduces the number of election-day visitors in the schools. Approximately 44.3% of Franklin County voters in 2008 voted early and did not visit their local polling place. Nearly 105,000 people have requested absentee ballots for November’s election.
“Waiver Days are still valuable to our employees. They remain a cost-effective way to learn from each other, identify best practices, and implement initiatives across our district that have resulted in positive academic gains for our students,” said Superintendent Dan Good. “Given the changes we’ve experienced as a district, as well as the trends and efforts to make it more convenient for registered voters to cast a ballot, Westerville City School District officials have decided that now is the perfect time to modify our Waiver Day plans.”