Local News - April 2003

Extended school day considered

Published April 04, 2003

By JEREMY ASHTON, LTN Staff Writer

Lincoln County’s students and teachers could get back most of the spring break they lost — with a catch.

The General Assembly ratified a bill Thursday giving local school boards the option, for this year only, of forgiving a maximum of three instructional days wiped out due to snow.

To make up for the lost classroom time, schools would have to extend existing schooldays, possibly by as much as an hour.

The issue will be on the agenda at Wednesday’s Board of Education meeting.

Lincoln County Schools had a 10-day spring break, including two weekends, built into the school calendar at the beginning of the year. An unusually large number of snow days has whittled the break down to a four-day weekend with April 17 and 18 off from school.

At last month’s meeting, the school board voted 6-1 to recommend to Lincoln’s state representatives that the calendar be kept at 180 days as mandated by state law. Fred Jarrett cast the lone dissenting vote.

Jarrett said at the time he would like to see something put in place allowing local boards to consider forgiving days if more than five are missed due to inclement weather.

“I’m a firm believer in flexibility with responsibility,” Jarrett said.

If the maximum number of annual leave days is put back into the calendar, schools would have 26 instructional days after the board meeting to make up 18 hours of class time.

By extending the school day, the school system could run into logistical problems. Custodians and bus drivers, for example, would have to be paid overtime, and after-school programs would have to be rescheduled.

Jarrett said it would be a “challenging situation” but noted that the board also has the options of restoring just one or two vacation days.

“I see it as giving us the flexibility for many options,” he said.

Board member Jean Dellinger said she would like to get input from everyone affected before making a decision on the issue.

“I would not want to do anything that would be a burden in any way on parents, students and teachers,” Dellinger said.

At West Lincoln High School, Principal Debra Morris has noticed students and teachers are starting to wear down. The last day off they had was a snow day on Feb. 18.

Morris said teachers are excited about the prospect of getting an extended break again, but she isn’t sure if they understand the hours would have to be made up at some point.

“Most teachers, I think, would say they don’t want to do that because it would get too complicated,” Morris said.

Cindy Poe, principal at S. Ray Lowder Elementary, said the flexibility could be good for future years but changing the schedule so close to the end of the year might be too difficult to organize.

“That would throw everything out of kilter, so I’d just rather make up the days,” Poe said.

North Carolina law requires schools to schedule “a minimum of 180 days and 1,000 hours of instruction covering at least nine calendar months.”

Lincoln County Schools already builds more than 1,000 hours into its schedule each year.

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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