Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 3, 1994 TAG: 9402040002
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By MARA LEE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
State mandates say that districts must go for 180 days, or 990 hours.
Giles County, which has missed 12 days so far, had five built-in snow days. Then Superintendent Robert McCracken is counting eight days more from the 15-minute longer day. Giles schools will add 15 more minutes to the day for the last two grading periods, which will give them a four-day cushion.
"We're counting on the groundhog to bring us a miracle," McCracken said. "Another March disaster and there're some real serious student issues."
Giles schools will let out June 10, and McCracken said the system didn't want to extend past that because of a lack of air conditioning. Saturdays are equally unappealing, he said.
Montgomery County will also count eight days from extra minutes, and also had five snow days built in. Its students have missed 11 days.
The system is canceling four half-days for teacher training and a March 18 teacher workday.
This leaves a four-day cushion.
Fifty people attended the county School Board meeting Tuesday night where the board scheduled April 4 as the next makeup day, shortening spring break to a three-day weekend.
Past that, June 16 and 17 can be snow days. The year will be 176 actual days, but 184 "equivalent" days.
Superintendent Herman Bartlett said the poor conditions of gravel and dirt roads and the school parking lots often led to closures.
"We've tried to sand it down, we've tried to salt it down, it's been unbelievable,'' he said of the school parking lots. ``It'd start melting and get slicker. Some places, two inches of solid ice. It was just a horror story."
Radford schools have missed 10 days, and plan to add more days past June 15 if necessary to avoid going to school on Saturdays.
Pulaski County schools have missed 14 days of school, and will make them up by using one day of extra minutes, nine days added in June, ending June 17, eliminating two days of a six-day spring break, Memorial Day and a teacher's workday Jan. 24.
Floyd County schools have been out 15 days. The 30 extra minutes each day will account for five days, two teacher work days and two days of the four-day spring break were considered built-in days, and Superintendent Terry Arbogast said two more work days would go. The school year will be extended until June 9, four extra days.
Floyd can use seven more days of extra minutes. Arbogast said they don't usually like to use the extra minutes in this way, but said, "This winter's a little bit unusual to say the least."
by CNB