Shorter school yearIn Tennessee, Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman approved all of the requests from 42 of the state’s 136 school districts this year to shorten their school calendars because of natural disasters. The waivers varied from one to seven days and in Southeast Tennessee included:• Bradley County, seven days• Cleveland City Schools, two days• Hamilton County, two days• Sequatchie County, two days• Rhea County, two days• Bledsoe County, two days• Grundy County, one dayIn Georgia, the Department of Education allows school districts to use four emergency days for school closings below the 180-day state minimum for the year. Additionally, six school districts were granted waivers to operate fewer than 176 days, including:• Catoosa County, four days• Walker County, three days• Dade County, four daysSources: Tennessee Department of Education, Georgia Department of EducationMeeting the standardIn Hamilton County, the school system met the state’s overall requirement for 180 days of annual instruction with fewer days by extending the school day, counting partial days and getting a state waiver from minimum standards:• Thirteen days were credited below the 180-day minimum by adding 30 minutes to the school day, expanding the typical school day to seven hours from the state minimum of 6.5 hours.• Two additional days lost because of bad weather were waived from the state standard by the Tennessee Department of Education after the school board requested the waiver because of tornado damage in April.• Two days were counted as instructional days when students registered for classes on Aug. 4, 2010, and when students picked up report cards on May 24. There was no actual classroom instruction on either day.• Four days were scheduled half-days for parent-teacher conferences and for professional development days.• Four or more days were shortened by delayed openings or early dismissals because of bad weather, tornado cleanup, school building problems or special events at individual schools. The state allows school districts to count any day as an instructional day when the school is open at least 3.5 hours.Sources: Hamilton County School System calendar for 2010-11, Tennessee Department of Education
Tennessee public schools may need to lengthen their school year in the future to help students from the Volunteer State compete in a global market where most students study longer each year, Gov. Bill Haslam said.
But meanwhile, Haslam said more than a third of the state’s school systems hard hit by snowstorms, flooding or tornadoes were granted waivers from minimum calendar requirements in the past year.
“Due to the storms this year and due to the budget, I think it was going to be hard to go back and force the folks there [to meet the state standard],” Haslam said in a recent interview as the school year ended across Tennessee. “I think you’re looking at a unique situation this year with all of the storms and the flooding.”
Many districts in Southeast Tennessee and Northwest Georgia had at least a week less of school in the past year than they did a year ago.