Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
It’s always welcome news for students – “We’re having a snow day!”
While it’s fun to stay home on a cold, winter’s day or to venture out and go sledding instead of going to school, it is important to not miss school.
That is why the school system has a plan it follows when it comes time to make up for snow days.
To start, Pocahontas County Schools has five days of equivalent time built up that it uses for the first five snow days. The state requires the following minutes per day – kindergarten through fifth grade – 315 minutes per day; sixth through eighth grade – 330 minutes per day; grades nine through 12 – 345 minutes per day.
Schools in Pocahontas County have extra minutes that can accrue and be used for the equivalent time.
After those five days are used, then the school system relies on snow packets which students take home with school work to do the next five snow days. This counts as instructional time and those days do not need to be made up at the end of the year.
If the school system has more than 10 snow days, the school system will look at the calendar to see what days can be used to make up the snow days.
The calendar has four Outside the School Environment Days or OS days scheduled for April 21, May 30, June 2 and June 3. If school is canceled for any reason after the last snow packet day, the students will have to attend school on May 30.
The next cancelation will take June 2 and the next, June 3. April 21 will be used last, if needed, due to its proximity to spring break.
If there are more days out of school, then the Out-of-Calendar Days of April 14 through 18 will be taken to make up those days. These days make up the week-long spring break.
For more information on snow days and the schedule, visit boe.pocahontas.k12.wv.us
