Escambia County School District is planning to cancel a series of late start days that had been scheduled for teacher training.

Schools superintendent Malcolm Thomas will recommend to the School Board a calendar change to cancel all late start dates for the 2014-2015 school year, according to a news release.

The initial plan was to have schools start two hour late during the first half of the school year on three days — Sept. 17, Nov. 5 and Dec. 3 — for teachers to have “in-service” or professional training workshops. For many working parents, delaying school start times disrupts their plans and creates problems in making arrangements for their children.

Thomas said the negative feedback the district received from parents led to the decision to find an alternative plan.

“We always try to pay attention to the impact our decisions have on our students’ families,” he said. “This decision is being made to avoid significant hardships the two-hour delay would create for working families.”

The School Board is expected to vote on the request at its meeting on Sept. 10. If approved, all schools will begin at their regular start times on those three days.

“In the best interest of our students’ safety and our desire to serve our families, we will find an alternate method to deliver the professional training opportunities we had planned for those mornings,” Thomas said.

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