Waivers

North Dakota Century Code 15.1-06-04 states "If a school district intends to operate under a school calendar that consists of four days of instruction per week, the school district shall apply and be approved for a waiver by the superintendent of public instruction".

The North Dakota Department of Public Instruction's definition of a four-day school week is as follows:

"A four-day school week includes a calendar that consistently has four student contact days a week over an interval of several months. This can be traditional four-day weeks in which the entire yearly calendar is comprised of four student contact days per week, or a hybrid four-day school week which consists of four student contact days per week at certain times during the school year. In addition, a district that implements a four-day school week will most likely have more hours of student contact time during the day within the four-day school week. Districts that implement a four-day school week must also create a contingency plan to provide services for students and families that are burdened by the four-day school week, such as providing breakfast and lunch, providing activities on Fridays, etc”.

Contingency Planning

Parents are accustomed to, and plan for, their children to be cared for five days per week during the school year. Schools must create a plan for students in the event necessary services cannot be provided by parents. For example, schools may conduct STEM days, physical education days, or provide breakfast and lunch to students. This contingency plan must be created and implemented at the local level.

Any planned activity hours – academic or non-academic – on the fifth day of a four-day school week may not be counted in yearly calendar hour totals.

Schools using a four-day school week must adhere to the minimum hourly requirement of 962.5 hours of instruction per year at the elementary school level, and 1,050 hours of instruction per year at the middle and high school level.

Application Process 

The application for a four-day school week waiver can be found online. Applying schools/districts must upload copies of approved school board minutes, school calendar, and bell schedule for the year of the waiver is requested. 

A Waiver of High School Unit Instructional Time is required if:

• Reconfiguring the school day drops the hours of required unit time of a course (120 hours of student engagement per credit in general coursework; 150 hours of student engagement per credit in Science and CTE courses).

  *Note: A school/district may need both waivers if altering their school calendar significantly impacts high school instructional time.

Application Process

The application for a High School Unit Instructional Time waiver can be found online. Applying schools/districts must upload copies of approved school board minutes, school calendar, and bell schedule for the year of the waiver is requested.