| Makeup days added to county school calendar | | Posted: Tuesday, March 27, 2012 10:00 pm
| By CHRIS MENEES
Staff Reporter
Students at Obion County Central High School and its elementary feeder schools will be in class two full days at the close of this school year to make up for two days missed for the state girls’ basketball tournament.
The decision on how to make up the days was made Monday night during a called meeting of the Obion County School Board.
The board decided students will be in class all day May 17 and May 18 — a revision from what is scheduled on the school calendar. The 17th had been listed as the last day of school and a half-day for students, while the 18th had been listed as a staff development day.
There was confusion in recent days when it was prematurely announced in the schools that students would be held over for classes an extra 11⁄2 hours on Wednesdays and would go an extra day at the end of the school year to make up for the missed days. An email sent to administrators and faculty from the central office the middle of last week apologized for the premature announcement and said the decision would be finalized at Monday night’s board meeting.
According to the central office’s email, state law requires Obion County’s students attend school 175 days and the school system can only use stockpiled days for professional development and inclement weather.
During Monday night’s called meeting, school board member Fritz Fussell and board chairman Brian Rainey both emphasized that stockpiled or snow days cannot be used in making up the two missed days and board member Tim Partin said the board must follow state law. Rainey said Obion County Director of Schools David Huss and school principals had been working to try to find a solution which would please everyone.
Fussell said there has been a lot of confusion over the notion of going an extra 11⁄2 hours on Wednesdays and whether or not it was going to happen, but he said nothing was official going into Monday night’s meeting and the board would make the decision. Board member Susan Williams agreed there has been confusion and said the suggested Wednesday plan would make a very long day for children.
Partin made the motion for classes to go all day on May 17-18 and to make up a remaining half-day (three hours) from extended time already allotted within the end of the school calendar. It was seconded by board member David Lamb.
Before the vote, Lamb suggested if anyone does not like the recommendation, they could instead take the days from the spring break scheduled for the first week of April. Rainey cautioned that many families already have vacation plans for spring break week.
Lamb represents the South Fulton area on the school board and the decision on making up the two missed days does not affect South Fulton schools, which did not dismiss classes for their students when the OCCHS girls’ basketball team played in the state tournament earlier this month.
Partin’s motion was approved by a vote of 7-0 and there were no comments from anyone in attendance. Other than the seven board members, the crowd of about 15 included primarily central office staff, a couple of administrators, one teacher and only three parents.
Monday night’s called school board meeting lasted only five minutes at the board office’s conference room.
Afterward, there were some concerns expressed about May 18 also being graduation night at OCCHS. Huss told The Messenger there will be some challenges with the last day of school and graduation both being the 18th, but he is confident it can be worked out.
Staff Reporter Chris Menees may be contacted by email at cmenees@ucmessenger.com.
Published in The Messenger 3.27.12 | | | | |
