By: Anna Taylor, Ashley Bishop | Posted: Mar. 9, 2018 | Source: WCHSTV
KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va. (WCHS/WVAH) — Kanawha County Schools has decided to make up the nine days of instruction time lost from the statewide work stoppage at the end of the academic year. This means students will still get five days off April 2-6 for spring break.
Kanawha County Superintendent Ron Duerring said Friday morning that the district was looking at all the options before making a decision.
“It certainly will be a no win situation no matter what we do, there will be people that are happy about it and people unhappy about it,” Duerring said. “It’s like a snow day, so we are just trying to come up with the best possible schedule to meet the needs of everybody as we move forward and hopefully we will have that by late today or Monday.”
Kanawha County’s last day will be June 1. The last day for teachers is June 8.
The district has nine work stoppage days and three snow days to make up, however, its schools will have enough banked instructional time by the end of the year to eliminate four of the work stoppage days, according to a news release from the district.
Kanawha County Schools will use May 22-24 as make up time from snow days. May 25, 29, 30, 31 and June 1 will be work stoppage makeup days. Final examinations will be adjusted as necessary.
Staff, including teachers, will make up each of the 12 days.Professional development days will be June 4-7 and an additional closeout day will be June 8, the release says.
Teachers and school service personnel in all 55 West Virginia counties held a walkout that started Feb. 22 and lasted until March 6.
Current legislative code in West Virginia requires 180 instructional days in a school year. State Superintendent Steven Paine said Thursday that there is no flexibility in that requirement, and all missed instructional time must be made up.
Paine suggested three methods for school districts to consider when deciding how those days will be made up. He said districts should consider using spring break time as an option.
Paine also suggested districts use accrued time from those who have longer school days than what is required. Another option would be to use the end of the academic year.
All graduation dates will be unchanged since invitations have been sent and locations have been scheduled.
Acceptable excuses for absences during a school district’s previously scheduled spring break time will be determined at the local level, though Paine encourages districts to accommodate families.
All 55 school boards of education must approve changes to school calendars. Paine said he anticipates the changes to be approved by boards in the next two weeks.
Roane, Putnam and Jackson county schools have announced each will be using spring break as makeup time.
