STUDENTS TO MAKE UP LOST DAYS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, April 16, 1993                   TAG: 9304160290
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-12   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: STEVE KARK CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: PEARISBURG                                LENGTH: Short
STUDENTS TO MAKE UP LOST DAYS
Students in Giles County schools will have to wait an additional day before they begin summer vacation this year. They have last month's winter storm to thank for that.
At a School Board meeting earlier this week, Superintendent Robert McCracken presented a plan that includes not only the additional day at the end of the school year, but also adds 15 minutes of instructional time to each day.
Not to worry, he said, this does not mean that students will start the day earlier or end it later. The time will be worked into the normal school day.
Giles students missed one full week of school because of the storm and lost an additional day because of recent flooding in the county.
"It's been an unusual year," McCracken said.
Although the schools were prepared to open sooner after the storm, they didn't because buses couldn't get to the students, he said. Large snow drifts made the county's rural roads too narrow for the buses.
The 15 minutes of instructional time will be added beginning May 3. To make up additional days, students will go to school on Memorial Day this year and school will close on June 11, instead of June 10.
Also at the meeting, School Board Chairman J.B. Buckland said the the school budget has been submitted to the county Board of Supervisors. If approved without change, it will mean a 3-percent raise for teachers and staff next year, he said.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB