CHARLESTON, W.Va. — State School Superintendent Michele Blatt has granted waivers to 47 county school districts for days missed because of the severe snow and ice storm the state experienced the last week of January.
All 55 counties missed all five days of school that week. Gov. Patrick Morrisey had the entire state under a state of emergency. Assistant State School Superintendent Jeff Kelley said that triggers a provision in state code.
“The state superintendent may decrease, or waive in this case, days when there’s an emergency or disaster declaration by the governor,” Kelley told MetroNews.
The county school systems won’t have to make up the days that were waived. Kelley said about half of the 47 districts received five days waived, the others less than that.
“When these things happen we try and work with the counties to assess their situation to see if there’s good reason to weigh in,” he said.
Kelley said a team at the Department of Education examines the requests, looking at the individual district’s school calendar and bank time to make sure all usable time has been exhausted.
“Do they have bank time and have they used to exhaust the provisions set form in code? After that it’s really a mathematical equation,” Kelley said.
MORE See counties granted waivers here
Cabell County Schools is one of the districts to be approved for the waiver. It sent out a message to its parents this week.
“Great news! The West Virginia Department of Education granted the waiver we submitted for five days missed during the ice storm in January! As a result, the last day for students will be a full day on Thursday, May 28! This information is subject to change if any additional days are missed this year due to inclement weather or other interruptions. This change is also pending local board approval,” the message said.
Kelley said the department team makes sure waiving days doesn’t cause counties to finish school before they were originally scheduled.
“It’s a little bit of a balancing act,” Kelley said. “We don’t want to get in the habit of just handing days away or eliminating days when it could negatively impact our ability to provide instruction to students.”