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Board moves two workdays to student days so high school exams meet state window
Summary
To comply with state testing rules and to ensure full exam days for students, the board approved shifting two scheduled teacher workdays into student days and moved the semester end date. The change aims to give high school students five full school days for end‑of‑course exams.
The Rockingham County Board of Education voted Jan. 13 to change the district calendar so that two previously scheduled teacher workdays become student days, allowing high school end‑of‑course exams to be fully administered inside the state testing window.
Dr. Perkins told the board that “state law says that we can only hold exams 5 days from the end of the semester,” and that recent snow and remote days had compressed the district’s available testing days. The revision converts the previously scheduled workdays into student days and moves the semester end date to Jan. 22 so the exams fall within the five‑day window.
Under the revised schedule presented at the meeting, exams are scheduled to begin Jan. 15 and run Jan. 15–17, then resume Jan. 21–22, giving the district the full days it needs for accommodations and accurate administration. Dr. Perkins acknowledged families who may have planned vacations around the original workdays and said principals had been asked to be flexible in excusing absences.
Board member Bob Wyatt moved approval; after a second, the board voted in favor with no opposition recorded on the audio record.
District staff also explained how snow and remote-instruction days affect required instructional hours: the district has used two of five allowable remote instructional days and retains instructional-hour reserves that staff said should prevent the need for calendar extensions this year. The board approved the amendment to the calendar at the Jan. 13 meeting.
