Snow day.
Those two words that cause cheer in the hearts of students may translate into the opposite following Walker County Schools’ decision to extend the school day by 20 minutes to make up for recent snow days. The change takes effect March 3 and continues for the rest of the school year.
“The additional time will help teachers maximize instruction in an effort to ensure students do not suffer academically as a result of the inclement weather days,” system Superintendent Damon Raines said in a press release. “Our main concern was the lost instructional time as we begin final preparations for the CRCT, End of Course Tests and Advanced Placement exams.”
County students already made up one day by attending school on Presidents Day, but that still leaves eight days of lost instruction already this year.
“We want to maximize the instructional time with every child and get as much time as we can,” Raines said in a follow-up interview. “We received the resolution from [State School Superintendent] Dr. Barge that the board could waive days due to the state of emergency. He said we could choose not to make it up at all. We felt our students needed that time to prepare for standardized tests.”