The Blytheville School district is making use of recently passed legislation to help make up the seven days the district has missed during the first half of this semester because of inclement weather.
On Monday, the school board voted during a special meeting to approve changes to the school calendar to make up the seven days missed during the two recent bouts of winter weather.
The new calendar moves the end of the third-quarter from March 13 to March 19, with the first makeup date being March 20. The parent/teacher conferences that were originally scheduled for March 17 and 20 have now been moved to March 31 and April 2. The second and third makeup days will be on April 3, which was originally scheduled for Easter break, and May 29, which was already a scheduled makeup date.
According to Superintendent Richard Atwill, to prevent the semester's end running over into the month of June, which would impede the district's ability to get in a full four weeks of summer school for students needing to make up credits, the board voted to add 72 minutes to each day during the month of May. This time will be broken into 9-minute chunks added to each class throughout the day. This will allow the district to make up the remaining four days without adding anymore days onto the end of the semester.
Recently, the legislation was passed that allows districts to add 60 minutes or more to a school day to make up days missed for inclement weather. Atwill said this is a tremendous tool for the district to be able to implement in order to stay close to the original end of school date.
In other news, the board also met with principals from each school to discuss the uniform dress code issue. Atwill said the principals are the first line of enforcing any dress code, and as such, their input is important. The district also looked at nearly 700 responses from students, parents and staff members to surveys that were sent out asking for input on the uniforms.
Atwill said all of this feedback, along with suggestions from the school board, will be used in drawing up a new dress code. Atwill said the board anticipates making a move on the issue during the regularly scheduled April meeting. If any changes are made, this gives parents roughly three months to make adjustments according to Atwill.
cpinkard@blythevillecourier.com