School board lays out new schedule for makeup days in Wake County
WAKE COUNTY, N.C. (WTVD) -- The Wake County Board of Education is close to nailing down a fixed makeup day schedule for the 2015-2016 academic school year.
At their work session Tuesday night, board members tweaked a proposal that would clearly lay out which days would be used for makeup days should inclement weather lead to school cancellations.
This past winter, students missed eight school days due to back-to-back winter storms. District leaders were left scrambling to find appropriate makeup days. They eventually agreed to send students to school March 23-25, the first three days of spring break, leaving many parents upset.
To avoid any confusion and conflicts in the future, this new proposal strips away flexibility for the district when it comes to scheduling makeup days. They have outlined a specific list of dates they will strictly follow in the order they're listed, when school is canceled due to bad weather.
The list includes two Saturdays, October 3 and April 6.
School board member Susan Evans told Eyewitness News they hope to avoid using the Saturdays by prioritizing teacher work days and early release days on the list.
Evans said after two rough winters that kept students out of the classroom, the board is aiming for a clear plan that will make the most of their instructional time.
"I think everybody will be much happier with a defined set of dates and knowing what ranking order those dates will be chosen," she said. "And then that just removes a lot of the judgmental guess work that has to take place in the heat of the moment."
Evans said parents will be able to feel confident about booking vacations, knowing the dates well in advance when their student may have to go to school to make up for missed time in the classroom.
The school board will vote on the proposal at their meeting on May 5.
Below is the schedule of makeup days WCPSS will follow should school be cancelled due to inclement weather. Two early release days are needed to make-up one full day of school. Banked hours, or class time accrued above the 1,025 instructional hours per year required by the state, would not be used before the list was exhausted through April 25.
Sept. 4 + Oct. 16 - Early Release
Oct. 26
Oct. 3 - Saturday, full day
Nov. 25
Dec. 18 + Jan. 15 - Early Release
Dec. 21
Dec. 22
Jan. 19
Feb. 15
March 24
April 25
Banked Hours (up to 3 days)
Feb. 12 + March 4 - Early Release
April 16 - Saturday, full day
April 1
March 31
March 30
June 10
