School snow make up day to be scheduled
A March workday will now see students report to makeup missed classroom time.
Local students will only have to make up a single day of school after winter weather caused closings once again and caused some issues with the calendar.
After early dismissal ahead of the winter storm and a Distance Learning Day at home for students last Wednesday, Polk School District’s schedule got thrown off a bit by additional days out for students last Thursday and Friday.
That put the total number of days up to eight so far for the year, well over what usually is allowed for missed school by the state.
Superintendent Laurie Atkins explained that some of those days missed this year can be ruled exempt by the board due to declared States of Emergency by Governor Nathan Deal, which he did during closings for the impact felt during Hurricane Irma in September of last year, and during this round of winter weather when he declared an emergency for northern and metro Atlanta counties across the state last week.
“In addition, the district has a waiver from the state require- ment of a minimum of 180 classroom days,” Atkins said in a statement last Friday. “Therefore, it is not a requirement to make up the days missed.”
Additionally, Atkins explained that “Polk School District has also scheduled school days with a little extra time over required amount each day. This allows for any unplanned, emergency days that require school to be canceled.”
However, because of annual testing requirements coming up in the spring, Atkins said the district doesn’t want students to miss any opportunities for instruction ahead of the Georgia Milestones.
So students will be required to attend school on a day that was reserved for faculty and staff to be in the classroom alone.
Atkins said that the March 16 teacher workday will now be used as a day to help catch up on instruction, and parents should plan their calendars accordingly.
“We feel students will have made up some of the time lost,” Atkins said about the school day being added back in the coming months.
What it means for students and parents overall is they won’t lose any Spring Break days coming up due to the weather closings, and they also won’t have to make the days up at the end of the school year in May.
The hope now for school officials is no more weather causes closings in the Polk School District, for it could require students to return to class at unexpected times to makeup for anymore missed days.
In past weeks, the Board of Education approved calendars for the next two school years allowing for parents to plan ahead of time for vacations through 2020.
Those calendars available on the board website include four days each year for teacher workdays built into each one, allowing for the potential for winter weather if it comes up, along with days before and after the start of each school year to accommodate for planning purposes and classroom setup.