The Fairfax County School Board is expected to decide how the school system will make up the days it has missed due to snow at its meeting Thursday, March 13, beginning at 7:30 p.m., at Luther Jackson Middle School, 3020 Gallows Road, Falls Church.
The school system has used 10 snow days so far, half of which will be forgiven, according to a memorandum from the state Department of Education stating any school system that misses 10 or more days due to inclement weather only has to make-up five of those days. Three snow days are automatically built into the Fairfax County school calendar, leaving two days to make up.
Schools Superintendent Daniel Domenech has proposed two alternatives for the remaining days. Under both proposals, April 7, originally slated to be a teacher work day, will be a school day.
The School Board will have to decide whether to extend the school day 30 minutes from April 21-May 16, which would equal a day or make Monday, June 23 the last day of school.
Domenech favors extending the day because it would provide additional instructional time before the Standards of Learning, Advanced Placement & International Baccalaureate exams, none of which can be rescheduled. However, late-bell elementary schools, some of which do not dismiss until 3:45 p.m. now, will not be dismissing until close to 4:30 p.m., making it a long day for students even before bus-commute times. The extended day will also have an effect on athletics and after-school remediation programs.
However, making June 23 the last day means no additional time before the exams. Commencements are not slated to be moved back, so seniors will have already graduated and a high absentee rate is expected since most other final exams will be finished by then.