By Jesse Wood
Jan. 13, 2014. After missing four days due to inclement weather during the recent polar vortex last week, Avery County Schools is rearranging its school calendar – which, as a press release noted, is “nothing new” to the school system.
In all, Avery County Schools has missed five school days due to the winter weather so far in the 2013-14 year. To comply with state law, which dictates when school can begin and end, students must attend 185 days or 1,025 hours, and to adhere to those timeframes, five days of school can be missed without making up those snow days.
The following changes to the calendar have been made:
- January 17 officially ends the first semester
- January 17, February 20 and 21 are now regular school days
- January 20 remains a Teacher Optional Workday
ACS Supt. David Burleson recently said that there is the possibility of adding 30 minutes of instruction to Monday through Thursday school days if any more school days are missed. The final option, he said, would be Saturday school, which Watauga County Schools held this past weekend.
“Our main objective is to make sure that our students are given every opportunity to attend school in the safest manner possible and to protect valuable learning time. We value the instructional hours used to prepare students for their final exams,” Burleson explained in a release.
Before each year, the ACS calendar committee sends out a feedback survey to help set a schedule that meets the needs of ACS families as well as adheres to state statutes. Jeff Jaynes, ACS calendar committee chair, said the committee is comprised of parents, teachers and administrators.
“The calendar committee works very diligently to make sure that we design a schedule that accommodates our community, and at the same time, promotes the best student learning atmosphere possible,” Jaynes said in a release.
To view the updated calendar, click to the ACS website, and then click “School Calendars” tab at the top of the page. Take note of the “last updated” date on the upper right hand corner of the calendar.
Below is the most recent calendar:
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