HUNTINGTON, W.Va. –Cabell County School officials intend to put in a waiver request with the West Virginia Board of Education for them to excuse days that they have missed due to inclement weather that the state faced.
They have put in requests for three days that the students have missed, Jan. 6 where a winter storm came through the state, Feb. 6 and 17, because of the rain and flooding that hit the state.
Ashley Stephens, director of Communications and Family Connections for Cabell County says these dates were requested because these dates were when the county was under a state of emergency.
“Those three are the dates when Cabell County was declared a state of emergency by the Governor,” she said. “That’s how the waiver works, is we’re able to apply for a waiver if school was out at a time the county was under a state of emergency.”
Since students missed Jan. 6, they would have been able to use an OSE, outside environment day, which would have been in February, however they missed the day that was originally scheduled when they made the calendar.
Stephens said that they make academic calendars two years in advance, and they have to include six OSE days in case the weather causes them to miss school, these days don’t have to be made up. And right now, the county has had to add them to the end of the school year.
“And so, we know that there is going to be some inclement weather that’s going to close schools, so there are some of those added at the end of the year, with the idea that we will most likely have some sort of cancellation and need to utilize those,” she said.
She also said that they are allowed five NTI, non-traditional instruction days, which they used during the bad weather in January and February.
The county has sent out a new updated version of their school academic calendar to parents, however nothing has been finalized yet.
Stephens said this was just a precaution in case the requests are denied.
“We haven’t made any official adjustments to our calendars yet, we just wanted to let our families know for planning purposes, you know this is what we anticipate we may have to do and there is this option of a waiver, and we’ll keep them posted,” she said. “As of right now we haven’t made any changes, we just know that because of the missed school there are some changes that will need to be made, in one direction of another, regardless of whether the waiver is granted.”
Stephens says despite the weather that the state has seen in recent months, their ultimate goal is to make sure that kids have the required 180 days of instruction.
“We are excited to be able to offer 180 days of instruction every year, and it’s unfortunate when weather gets in the way of that, but we’re dedicated to making sure that students get those days regardless of when we have to schedule them,” she said.
And in light of the harsh winter that the state has experienced the Senate Education Committee passed SB 646 Thursday, which allow for schools to have more remote learning days, which don’t need to be made up.
Under the bill, it would double the Non-traditional instruction days from five to 10 giving counties more flexibility when having to meet the 180-day requirement.
Committee Chairwoman Amy Grady, who is also a 4th Grade teacher, says that while the NTI days aren’t perfect, it’s just a better option right now.
“They’re usually just review days. We send review packets home. You can’t do new instructional material during that time, but I think they are much more worthy days than the days tacked on,” she said.
Grady also said that when you tack days on at the end of the school year, it makes those instructional days hard because kids don’t show up for those last days.
That bill now heads to the Senate Finance Committee
More counties are expected to put waiver requests in due to missed school either because of the snow or flooding.