FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Multiple local districts are putting plans in place to make up for time lost to snow days.
The Fayetteville Board of Education voted Jan. 25 to add 35 minutes to their school days for grades 5th through 12th to make up for missed days.
The revision will take effect Feb. 5. Grades kindergarten through 4th already have more built-in instructional time, so their schedule will remain the same.
"Our school district has missed seven days of school up to this point, which would put us going through June 5, which is seven days after Memorial Day," John Mulford, Superintendent of Fayetteville Public Schools, said.
Mulford said that the majority of teachers preferred this rather than adding school days, as this will give them extra time to get students ready for state testing.
"We all would recognize school days after Memorial Day, a lot of people you have poor attendance, you know, it's hard to get kids focused, things like that. So, we if we're going to add time, we just want it to be useful time," Mulford said.
The state of Arkansas requires 178 in-person instruction days or 1,068 hours. If Fayetteville has to cancel school due to more inclement weather days, they'll use President's Day and April 8, which was for staff and students to participate in the solar eclipse. If they need more days, they'll be in school until after Memorial Day.
Mulford said he recognizes this could be a big change for families.
"We do recognize that we have high school students that may need to work, maybe they're supporting their family, or have other set obligations, that cannot be changed. As long as those parents will communicate with our principals, we will find a way to make it work," Mulford said.
The Springdale School Board voted Jan. 25 to change the district's inclement weather policy to allow for revisions.
The new policy gives the district's superintendent more flexibility to replace missed days. In the new policy, any Saturday or different flex day can be used to make up class time.
"We will alter the academic calendar to incorporate Feb. 2 and Feb. 19 as student instruction days," Dr. Jared Cleveland, Superintendent of Springdale Public Schools, said in a letter to families and staff. "This update was necessary to address lost instruction time for students."
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