Makeup days an issue with Shore schools

If only Punxsutawney Phil hadn't seen his shadow.

Two straight weeks with considerable snowfall will have Eastern Shore school districts making some tough decisions about the rest of the school year.

Throughout the region, boards of education and superintendents will all have to make choices with how to reach the 180-day requirement for classes thanks to the harsh winter.

The solutions will vary as well, as each county has a different system to deal with missing school due to the weather.

If the weather does not let up, school officials can also request a waiver from the state superintendent to not meet the 180-day requirement, something typically reserved for when a state of emergency or snow emergency plan is in effect, said Barbara Witherow, Worcester County public schools spokeswoman. With Good Friday, Easter Monday and Memorial Day all required by the state to remain as scheduled holidays, its likely students will have to look forward to more classes in the summer to make up for lost time.

Elsewhere on Delmarva, Accomack County public Schools have already used their built-in snow days and plan to convert one teacher professional day into a school day.

Wicomico schools may have the toughest decision, as its schedule does not accommodate the chance of school being canceled due to the weather, according to spokeswoman Tracy Sahler.

"As soon as we have a snow day, we then begin to look at how to make it up," Sahler said. "Some years we've had zero days (canceled) and some years we've had 13."

The school system has added April 7 to the school calendar as a full day of classes, which was originally scheduled to be a day off for students due to teacher workshops.

But with six days of class already canceled, Sahler said officials will have to make a decision on the remaining five days, with only April 1 and 2 available during Spring Break holiday with which to use.

"We do not have a lot of days to work with between now and the end of the school year," Sahler said, adding no more teacher workshop days can be moved.

"Our discussion to this point last week was that families have had the calendar for that spring break since late last school year," she added, saying nothing is "concrete" if the weather continues, she said.

Thanks to aforementioned flakes of crystalline water that have hounded the region, there is the potential for classes to be extended in Wicomico until June 17 instead of the original June 10 end date. While there's no official plan yet, the Board of Education will meet on March 10, where Sahler said a discussion about the system's plan is likely to take place.

According to Somerset schools spokesman Leo Lawson, the school system has five days built into the end of the schedule for situations like this.

However, the system has already canceled seven days of school, and will have to begin looking at how they will address the issue.

"No notice has been made yet," Lawson said. "The board and the superintendent always have the option of adding days at the end of the year."

Lawson added that administrators can decide to go with a couple different solutions, including shortening spring break in combination with adding days in June.

However, with scheduled workshops for teachers coming close to the end of the school year, Lawson said he anticipates the board and superintendent will take that into consideration when making their choice.

"I expect the decision to be made in a reasonable manner as to not to extend to far into June," Lawson said, "because of activities which are planned for staff development and so forth."

As for Worcester schools, three days are built into the end of the year to compensate for days lost to the weather according Witherow.

However, they are in a similar position as Wicomico and Somerset counties, with six days of school lost and April 2 as the only day officials could turn into a regular school day.

"As of today, this means the school system will have to recoup three days," Witherow said in a Thursday statement. "Winter, of course, is not over."

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