Powhatan County board designates Feb. 16 and March 16 as snow makeup days

The Powhatan County Public Schools Board of Education voted 5-0 on Feb. 6 to designate Feb. 16 and March 16 as snow makeup days for the 2025–26 school year, after staff told the board making Monday, Feb. 9 a workday would create logistical problems for teachers and substitute staffing.

Board members convened a special meeting called by the board chair to decide whether to add makeup days and which dates to use. The superintendent told the board the dates previously discussed included Feb. 9, Feb. 16, March 16 and April 6, but that staff had “almost been, entirely” opposed to Feb. 9 because many teachers had already scheduled medical or personal appointments that they could not readily reschedule.

The superintendent also warned of administrative constraints: the district’s system that authorizes substitutes and processes payroll cannot mark Feb. 9 as a workday until the board formally changes the calendar, which would force late substitute requests and create difficulties for the finance office during a holiday weekend. “It would be very difficult for multiple reasons,” the superintendent said.

A board member raised that a calendar version in the packet or online did not match the adopted calendar and urged staff to correct any public-facing copies to avoid confusion. Another board member pressed the board to weigh instructional time—citing AP and middle-school workloads—when choosing makeup days.

The chair moved to adopt Feb. 16 and March 16 as snow makeup days; the motion was seconded and approved in a roll-call vote announced as 5-0. The board recorded that April 6 had already been converted to a regular school day but said it would revisit whether to return April 6 to spring break at the March board meeting.

The board adjourned at about 1:16 p.m.