Local school districts alter schedules to make up days

Numerous smaller public school districts across Northwest Arkansas have decided how to make up for time missed because of last month’s inclement weather.

Under the LEARNS Act, each district is required to provide in-person instruction at a minimum of either 178 days or 1,068 hours each academic year to receive funding for the state’s $50,000 minimum teacher salaries. Some districts are shifting to an hours-based calendar to make up for the instructional time lost because of snow days in January.

That’s the case, for example, in Elkins. The School Board there voted unanimously Tuesday to modify its calendar from a traditional, 178-day calendar to an hours-based one.

The change in calendar designation allows Elkins to avoid tacking on snow days at the end of the school year and makes it less likely the district would need to do so in the event of more winter weather, said Superintendent Jeremy Mangrum.

Elkins’ schools have more time built into the instructional day than some districts, Mangrum said. The district already has accumulated 1,142 instructional hours so far, more than the 1,068-hour state requirement under the alternate calendar and enough hours to get out of school as scheduled on May 23, he added. Mangrum described the surplus hours as “banked time.”

The alternate calendar goes into effect immediately in Elkins, but the district must still get a waiver from the Arkansas Department of Education, the same waiver many other districts are applying for, he said.

Adding makeup days to the end of the school year — after the important state standardized tests in the spring — means fewer instruction days for students before those tests. To help alleviate that, the Education Department has allowed school districts to revise calendars at midyear.

Elkins has had seven snow days, Mangrum said. Two will be made up by having school on Presidents Day, Feb. 19, and Good Friday, March 29, he said.

Here’s what some other Northwest Arkansas school districts are doing about missed instructional time:

FARMINGTON

The Farmington School District will use a calendar based on in-person instructional hours, not days of instruction, to make up its five snow days in January.

The School Board approved the revised calendar for 2023-24 during a special meeting Monday. For now, Farmington’s last day of school remains May 24.

However, Superintendent Jon Laffoon told board members if school has to be canceled any more days because of weather, the district will have to use its built-in snow days at the end of the school year, May 28-June 3.

Laffoon said the revised calendar will be submitted to the Arkansas Department of Education. It took effect Tuesday.

The district’s two elementary schools and middle school are not affected by the change and will continue to have the same daily schedule for the rest of the year. That’s because those students already receive 6.5 hours of instruction every day, said Joe McClung, assistant superintendent.

The junior high will start five minutes earlier each day at 7:55 a.m. The high school will start 10 minutes earlier each day and add five minutes to the end of the day, from 7:50 a.m. to 2:55 p.m.

PEA RIDGE

Pea Ridge School District students have missed four scheduled school days due to weather this year.

School administrators are working on a transition from a traditional to an hoursbased calendar. The proposal is planned for discussion at Monday’s School Board meeting.

Superintendent Keith Martin said students in kindergarten through sixth grade have more hours of instruction than those in seventh through 12th grades because of the transition times between periods.

“Even recess counts as instructional,” Martin said of the lower grades.

“Our grades seven through 12 go 6.25 hours a day,” Martin said. Multiplying the daily hours by the 178 days of school equals 1,112.5 hours of instruction.

“If we approve the transition to an alternative calendar, I don’t believe we’ll have to extend our school year,” he said.

GRAVETTE

To make up five days lost last month, the Gravette School District is adopting a new bell schedule that will begin Monday and run through March 8 — called “Make-Up Month” — with no early dismissals on Fridays. The middle and high schools will begin their days five minutes earlier, according to a district Facebook post.

HAAS HALL ACADEMY

The Haas Hall Academy School Board voted Jan. 31 to adjust its academic calendar to make up for seven snow days, according to a news release from the school.

The board unanimously agreed to convert six previous off days into regular school days: Feb. 16, Feb. 19, March 14, March 15, March 29 and April 1, according to the release. For the seventh day, the board will extend school by 90 minutes for four consecutive days, according to the release. Those dates have not been announced.

Haas Hall has campuses in Bentonville, Fayetteville, Fort Smith, Rogers and Springdale. The calendar change applies to all five campuses, a school spokeswoman said.

WEST FORK

The West Fork School District lost seven days last month because of weather. The School Board on Jan. 31 adopted an hours-based calendar for the remainder of the school year, according to a letter to parents from Superintendent John Karnes.

In a change that took effect Monday, the district has extended its school day by 30 minutes, with the elementary school ending at 3:25 p.m. and the middle and high schools ending at 3:35 p.m. That schedule will continue through April 18.

In addition, Feb. 16 has been converted from an off day to an instructional day.

This will allow the students’ last day of school to be May 24 rather than June 5. If additional days are missed, the district will continue adding 30 minutes to each day beyond April 18 with the goal of avoiding instructional days in June, according to Karnes.