FCPS weighs plans for making up snow days

If you have a children in Fairfax County Public Schools, how do you think the school system should make up the four school days lost due to snow?

It’s already been determined that a teacher workday on April 12 would become a full day of school for all students, and schools using a modified calendar would hold a full day of school on April 16, which had been designated as an intersession day.

The school board will vote March 4 on one of these options to make up the additional time:

• Superintendent Jack Dale recommends adding 30 minutes to each school day—including early release Mondays for elementary students—from March 8 through June 21. This would generate an additional seven hours for standard calendar schools and four hours for modified-calendar schools, which could allow for additional closures, delayed openings, or early dismissals during the remaining school year.

• An alternative proposal would add 45 minutes to each school day—including early-release Mondays—from March 8 through June 21. This option would generate an additional 24.25 hours (four days) for standard-calendar schools and an additional 18.75 hours (three days and 2.25 hours) for modified-calendar schools.

• The third option would add makeup days at the end of the school year on June 23, 24, and 25 instead of adding more time to the instructional day.

FCPS asks parents invited to submit comments by e-mailing FCPS or contacting the school board. You can also become a fan of FCPS on Facebook and leave a comment on the FCPS page.

School board candidate Sandy Evans urges FCPS to survey parents and classroom teachers on how to make up the snow days. This decision “affects many things, from high school sports schedules to family vacations to transportation issues,” she says. “Involving parents and teachers in the discussion would help the board make a better-informed decision.” An online survey would be simple and cheap.

“There are more than three ways of approaching this, and the community should have a chance to consider all of them and express their views before a decision is made,” Evans adds. Another option would be requesting a waiver from the state to not make up some of the snow days.

Evans also advocates pushing standardized test dates to later in the school year whenever possible so students can make up more instructional time before taking them.