With an eye toward helping teachers and other staff members stay informed about changing educational policies and standards, the Meridian Public School District has crafted an early release schedule for the coming school year. The board gave the go-ahead for the plan earlier this year.

Superintendent Amy Carter announced, at the district’s board of education meeting Monday evening, that a specific plan had been developed. The arrangement means that students will end their school day before the regular stopping time once a week, leaving time for teachers and other staff members to conduct collaborative planning sessions.

“Previously our teachers spent late evenings (away) from their families planning and preparing for the … school year,” Carter said at Monday’s board meeting, held at the Meridian High School Multi-Purpose Building. “We saw this as an opportunity to give them additional time to plan and prepare as it relates to standards.”

For elementary school students, early release will take place at 1:45 p.m. on Wednesdays, rather than the regular 2:45 p.m., said Charlotte Young, assistant superintendent of student services, in an interview outside of the board meeting. For middle and high school students, early release will occur at 2:15 p.m., also on Wednesdays, rather than at 3:35 p.m.

Carter said early release “has been a request of our principals and teachers for years.” She added, too, that principals have met with “after-school partners,” or organizations such as the Boys & Girls Club that offer after-school programs, to alert them of the change. Parents, she said, were notified in May that the change would be coming.

She said the sessions will be carefully structured, with some based in school buildings and some conducted district-wide.

“I think it’s great,” said Board President Gary Houston during the meeting. “I certainly think we need to do that for professional development and overall district cohesiveness. I’m sure the community will get behind that.”

Houston noted that the plan revives a practice that the district had conducted in the past.

“The board supports our teachers and administrators,” he added. “We’re striving not so much for a grade but for student success. The school grades are important, but we want to make sure we’re supporting our staff and administrators. That’s our goal.”

Young said the weekly professional development times will give teachers a chance to conduct planning sessions together, incorporating new state standards as they devise lessons. She said planning time will involve other staff members, as well.

“Policies are changing every year, and we want to make sure that our librarians, counselors, all of our staff have that common planning time,” Young said. “It’s an opportunity for principals to plan with their staff, also.”

Young said various administrators — including John Taylor, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction — will assist with the planning. Last year, Young said, teachers and staff members stayed after hours about once every month to conduct planning.

In other business, the school board approved an agreement — listed as part of the consent agenda — between the school district and Greater Meridian Health Clinic. The agreement entails the providing of “medical and dental services for the students in the Meridian Public School District.” The agreement opens up the opportunity to place health clinics throughout the school district, staffed by Greater Meridian Health Clinic, as Superintendent Carter and Wilbert L. Jones explained earlier in the summer. Jones is the Chief Executive Officer of Greater Meridian Health Clinic.

Carter said the first school-based clinic may open this fall in a mobile unit next to T.J. Harris Upper Elementary School. The proposed agreement now goes before Greater Meridian Health Clinic’s Board of Directors.