Many of you are probably wondering how our school calendar might be affected by the high number of school days that have been canceled this winter. Here is what we know as of January 30, 2014.
- All Michigan schools are required to provide a minimum of 1,098 instructional hours in a given school year. Schools must also provide no fewer school days than were provided in 2009-2010 which for Lawton Community Schools is 175. Our current calendar contains 175 scheduled days of instruction.
- The State forgives schools the first 6 days that school is canceled.
- As of the cancellation that occurred on Wed. Jan. 29, Lawton Community Schools has now closed school on 7 different days which is one more day than is forgiven by the State.
- Unless the State provides some form of additional relief to schools, Lawton Community Schools will currently be required to add 1 day to our calendar. Per the negotiated and
approved calendar, this day would be Monday June 9. Any additional canceled days
would be added on to the end of the school year. - It is possible that the State may allow schools to waive the minimum days requirement
so long as they meet the requirement of 1,098 hours of instruction. Each of our buildings has enough hours scheduled to exceed that requirement. Therefore, based on hours, our schools could absorb a minimum of 15 additional hours of canceled time without having to make it up. - Where we may fall short of the requirement is in Kindergarten. We are currently discussing how to address this issue and will notify staff and parents as soon as we have a plan in place.
Please know that as of now, no decisions have been made relative to adding days or time to our calendar. Lost instructional time is never a good thing. I have great faith in our educators and their ability to make adjustments accordingly. I realize that this is quite complicated - stay tuned for additional information as it becomes available. Feel free to contact me with questions or comments.
Update: seems we're not the only state having this much fun. See article at link below:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/01/29/why-snow-days-matter-kids-forced-to-sleep-in-schools-because-class-wasnt-cancelled-in-time/