Students in both Clinton City Schools and Sampson County Schools missed Jan. 22 for a winter storm that was slated to hit the area, and local school officials have made a decision about each system making up the missed snow day.
Clinton City Schools has opted to waive the snow day, while students in Sampson County will have school on April 29, a day that was originally set aside as a required teacher workday.
During a board work session Thursday night, Clinton City board members voted to waive or forgive the missed day, rather than adding a school day to the student calendar. Superintendent Dr. Stuart Blount said the board had three options when making the decision. The board could waive the day, or make up the day on Feb. 15 or March 25.
“Students are required to be in school 180 days or 1,025 instructional hours,” Blount explained. “We have tracked enough instructional hours that the board has the option to waive the day. It gives they system some flexibility.”
On the current student calendar, Feb. 15 has been set aside as a required teacher workday, so if the board had gone with the decision to make up the day next month, the required teacher workday would be added to the end of the year. The March 25 date falls on Good Friday, and board members were concerned about interrupting family plans for the Easter break.
Clinton City board member Georgina Zeng made the motion to waive the day, based on the fact that the system has enough accumulated instructional hours set aside for the school year.
“Let’s waive the day, and if it snows again, we’ll worry about it then,” Zeng said.
The system has a plan in place for students to make up missed days on the Saturday following the day that was actually missed, but Blount said that was not a viable option when students were out Jan. 22, which fell on a Friday. Due to the impending winter weather, the decision was made to forgo Saturday school.
According to Susan Warren, public relations coordinator for Sampson County Schools, students in the county district will make up the missed day on April 29, which was set aside as a required workday for teachers. To allow teachers to complete their employment hours, teachers will have a required workday added onto the end of the school calendar, with the last required workday being June 13.
“The board was informed earlier this week,” Warren said. “April 29 was already approved as a scheduled makeup day when the calendar was adopted. They will approve the revised calendar at the February meeting since we had to add the teacher workday on June 13.”