Board weighs makeup‑day options after winter closures; agrees to target Feb. 17 as makeup day

Prince Edward County school trustees discussed makeup‑day options and instructional‑hour requirements Tuesday after several recent weather closures, and directed staff to count available banked instructional hours before scheduling additional makeup days.

District staff told the board the division currently meets required instructional hours (990 hours) but must make a "good faith effort" to recover missed days if more weather closures occur. Staff said the division is at approximately 1,211 instructional hours at present and that some neighboring districts use banked instructional time rather than adding makeup days at the end of the year.

Board members agreed to include Presidents' Day (Feb. 17) as a makeup day on the calendar if necessary and to delay announcing further makeup days while monitoring the weather. "I would not announce all 4. We may not have to make up any of the days," one member said. The board directed the superintendent to work with the calendar committee and return with a plan that balances instructional requirements and the impact on end‑of‑year schedules, including SOL testing and graduation.

Staff noted that for semester‑based high‑school courses, lost days can disproportionately affect the second semester, and that calculating banked instructional hours requires checking course schedules and contact hours. The board also scheduled a calendar committee meeting and asked staff to return with options for minimizing instructional disruption while meeting state requirements.

No formal vote to change the calendar was recorded at Tuesday's meeting; trustees requested more analysis and recommended communicating any final makeup‑day decisions to families in a timely manner.