Board Authorizes State Superintendent To Make Decisions
The Maryland State Board of Education today voted to allow local school systems to apply for waivers of up to three days from the 180-instructional day requirement, and authorized the State Superintendent to make the waiver decisions on a case-by-case basis.
The Board asked that each local system include in its waiver request an outline of modifications made to the system’s calendar to meet instructional needs of students.
“Instructional time is critically important as educators throughout the State work to strengthen student achievement,” said Dr. Charlene Dukes, president of the Maryland State Board of Education. “But the reality is that our systems were forced this winter to make some tough closing decisions for the safety of their students and staff. That required us to take this important step.”
No timetable has been set for decisions on the waiver requests. Eleven school systems have already requested waivers, and others may do so in the coming weeks.
Maryland residents – and Maryland school systems in particular – have again been working through an active winter, particularly late in the season. Many school systems exceeded the number of inclement weather days that had been built into their calendars.
The Maryland State Board had already allowed school systems to open classrooms on holidays to make up for some of the lost instructional time. The State has granted approval to four systems to open on the Monday after Easter, a State school holiday.
The State Board has been confronted with confounding weather before. In calendar year 2009-2010, and again last school year, Maryland schools dug through more extreme winters than in 2014-15. The State Board authorized the State Superintendent to waive up to five instructional days those two years.
5 comments:
I don't think we should get any days waved. Giving a 1/2 day is not really trying in my book.
180 days is 180 days - whether those days are in February or July. Providing waivers short changes the students and after all, isn't it all about the students? Perhaps the local school administrators should have thought about their summer dwindling away when they cancelled school before a snowflake even fell or when the roads really weren't bad at all. In addition, the fact that they are willing to give up "professional days" to make up for snow days truly indicates that those are wasted days as well.
Teachers, start chiming in, but you shouldn't be arguing with me; you should be arguing with your administrators - they are the ones making you look bad.
Administrators do not have the authority to cancel school. Those decisions are made by the superintendent.
no waivers!
make them go the mandated number of days.
teachers don't want to be there. they get paid whether in the class room or not. now where do you think they would rather be in june? idiot!
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