DECATUR--The recent winter weather had a major impact on life in Northwest Arkansas, forcing cancellation of many events including Christmas programs and basketball games, and the closure of area businesses and schools.
Area schools were closed for several days due to the week long snow and ice storm event.
While the closures allowed area students time away from classes, it presented a major problem for school officials.
Arkansas law requires each quarter of the school year to be no less than 40 days nor more than 50 days. The overall minimum days each school district is required to have is 178 days. If schools are shut down due to weather, the state requires those missed days to be made up.
The Decatur School Board, during their regularly scheduled meeting on Dec. 16, heard three proposals by superintendent Dr. Larry Ben to make up the six missed school days without running into summer vacation.
The proposal that was adopted by the School Board, transfers several in house service days to instructional days.
The proposal also reworked the second, third, and fourth quarters to conform to state law.
The first day of classes after the Christmas break will still begin Jan. 2 (this was the regularly scheduled date). The second quarter, however, will be extended through Jan. 7 with report cards going out on Jan. 9.
The third quarter will begin on Jan. 8 and end on March 14. The last quarter will pick up on March 15 through the end of the school year in May.
Provided that there are no further snow days the makeup dates will be Jan. 20, Feb. 14, April 18, May 23, May 27 and 28 with the last day of school scheduled for May 28.
By adding these days to the regular school calendar it allows more instructional days before testing in May, thus giving Decatur students a competitive edge on those test.
General News on 01/01/2014