A heavy snowstorm in December is only the most recent cause for cancellations for Chapel Hill – Carrboro City Schools, which lost eight days to bad weather by mid-December this school year. And while the kids might be thrilled, planning make-up days has been a headache for adults; a headache made worse by restrictions from the North Carolina General Assembly that limit the planning options of local school boards.
Last week, the Board of Education for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools passed a resolution asking the General Assembly to give them more flexibility for planning school days.
Superintendent Dr. Pam Baldwin said they had been asking for flexibility from state legislators for years.
“We’ve also have asked our sister district, Orange County Schools, as well as the Board of Commissioners to adopt a similar resolution so we can lock arms and try to get some change in what we think is good for our students,” Dr. Baldwin said.
In 2004, the General Assembly passed a school calendar law that set out a series of requirements all North Carolina school must follow when planning school days. The calendar law was lobbied in the General Assembly by the tourism and travel industry, according to a 2017 WUNC report.
“As we all know, we have been asking for the last 11 years for some flexibility on our calendar from the North Carolina General Assembly,” Baldwin said. “This is a resolution we are proposing in draft form for the board to adopt.”
The resolution noted that major hurricanes and severe winter snow storms have caused the CHCCS district to miss 16 school days over the past three years.
But making plans for incremental weather was only one of the reasons given by the board as a reason for wanting more flexibility with the school calendar.
The resolution adopted last week also notes that current scheduling requirements, “essentially requires high school students to take first semester exams after the winter break, which negatively impacts test scores.”
The current calendar also gives less time to students to study for Advanced Placement exams and makes it harder for high school students and recent winter graduates to take courses at nearby colleges or universities during the second semester of their senior years.
The resolution will now be sent to the school board’s legislative delegation. While the General Assembly is back in session, it is unclear if this local school flexibility will be a taken up soon.
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