House Bill 322, sponsored by Rep. Mike Cherry (D-Princeton), was amended by the House to permit, rather than require, the state education commissioner to excuse up to 10 “disaster days” from school districts' calendars in counties identified as federal disaster areas at the local school board’s request. The original bill would have required a waiver from the commissioner, who would also be allowed to waive up to 10 disaster days in districts that were not designated federal disaster areas.
In Crittenden County, one of the counties declared a federal disaster area related to both weather events, the board of education on Tuesday evening amended its school calendar to account for the 13 days already missed during the 2008-09 academic year. Three of those days have already been covered by extra time built into the school calendar. A variety of methods have been used to account for the remaining 10 days missed because of the winter storm, including tacking days onto the end of the original calendar that would have sent students home for the summer on May 15.
But Superintendent Dr. Rachel Yarbrough said earlier today, before learning that the bill cleared the House, that the district might seek to cash in on at least a portion of those allowed disaster days, if the legislation becomes law. If all 10 days were used, the last day of school could be May 14, one day earlier than initially scheduled.
However, it did not appear from discussion at Tuesday's meeting that the local board of education would seek the full 10-days if a waiver request were made.
