Richland School District Two will make up Monday, September 11, missed due to Hurricane Irma, on Thursday, October 19.
That means:
- Wednesday, October 18 becomes a full day for elementary and middle school students and remains a late start day for high school students. Elementary and middle school parent/teacher conferences move to Thursday, October 19.
- Thursday, October 19 becomes an early dismissal day for elementary and middle school students and a full day for high school students. Elementary and middle schools hold parent/teacher conference on this day.
- Friday, October 20 becomes a holiday for students. Teachers and other 190-day employees attend the district inservice.
Why now?
- Scheduling the day now allows us to recapture instruction time during the same semester of the missed day, while giving our families and employees advanced notice of the change in the schedule.
- The teachers, principals, administrators and executive staff that make up Key Leaders and the Superintendent’s Faculty Advisory Council overwhelmingly supported this plan.
- State law requires school districts to make up at minimum of three days of missed school before requesting days be forgiven by the local school board.
- Employees, students and parents have shared that using all the make-up days in the spring is difficult.
- It’s only September, and the past two years have not been kind to our meticulously planned school-year calendar (October, we’re looking at you).
Why isn’t one of the three required inclement weather make-up days scheduled in the fall?
When making up missed school days, our goal is to successfully and meaningfully recapture lost instructional time. Therefore, school districts try to schedule make-up days after the months when inclement weather that might prompt school closings is most likely to occur. Otherwise, we have to scramble to find days or add days to the end of the year.
