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Board discusses record number of school closures and possible makeup days
Summary
Superintendent-level staff told the board the district has exceeded its built-in five inclement-weather days for the first time this school year (six closures so far) and outlined options to recover minutes, including converting a planned April professional-development day to a student day.
District administrators told the USD Board of Education the district has for the first time exceeded the five built-in emergency school-closure days in the calendar, recording six school closures so far this winter, and presented options to recover required instructional minutes.
Administrators said the district is monitoring the forecast and has already identified April 18 (a scheduled professional-development day) as a possible makeup day if the district needs to convert it to a student day. They also discussed the possibility of making the final scheduled half day on Thursday, May 22, a full day for students and shifting the half day to Friday, May 23, although staff said they are mindful of community preference to end school before the Memorial Day weekend.
A staff presenter explained that a regular school day yields about 6.4 instructional hours while an early-release day yields about 5.9 hours, so changing early-release days yields only small increments of minutes. The superintendent-level speaker said that staff had contingency PD plans ready to ensure professional development could still be delivered if April 18 were converted to a student day.
Officials said they will continue to monitor weather, finalize decisions with the administrative team and communicate any changes to families as soon as possible. They emphasized a desire to avoid extending the school year past the Memorial Day weekend if possible because of community expectations and to allow bond construction partners to begin summer work when students are out of the buildings.
