Northwest Arkansas Schools To Make Up Days For Snow Days

Some Saturday School Possible In Fayetteville, Other Districts

  STAFF PHOTO JASON IVESTER 
Abigail Silvia, left, 6, and Katy Bauer, 6, both Apple Glen Elementary School first-graders, work on their art project during Adventure Club.
STAFF PHOTO JASON IVESTER Abigail Silvia, left, 6, and Katy Bauer, 6, both Apple Glen Elementary School first-graders, work on their art project during Adventure Club.

Students in Northwest Arkansas’ four largest school districts return to classes today after spending five days at home while students in rural districts get another day off.

All schools in Benton and Washington counties were closed for five days and some will remain closed today, including West Fork, Elkins, Greenland and Huntsville. The challenge for smaller districts is the number of rural roads making bus travel difficult.

Bentonville, Rogers, Springdale and Fayetteville will open their doors with limited bus service in some areas of those districts.

West Fork Superintendent John Karnes said he and the transportation supervisor drove about half of the district’s 13 routes Wednesday afternoon before canceling school today.

Some of the dirt roads were a solid sheet of ice, Karnes said. He said two miles on Arkansas 156 were 70 percent ice covered, Karnes said.

“There’s no way,” he said, after traveling up and down dirt roads on four different mountains.

Districts often build snow days into the academic calendar, usually by extending the school year. If make-up days aren’t used, students are dismissed earlier for summer.

The academic school-year calendar posted on the Rogers School District states its inclement weather days will be made up May 27, 28, 29, 30 and June 2. Ashley Siwiec, communication director, said, “We have at least five scheduled days to add to the end of the school year, but we will be taking a look at that if we need to make any other adjustments. We could use some of our upcoming professional development days, but we will need to involve our board and the Personnel Policies Committee before any changes are finalized.”

At A Glance

Homeless Vigil Postponed

The Homeless Vigil sponsored by the Fayetteville High School Student Council rescheduled for tonight is again postponed. The event was originally set for Dec. 5 and was postponed because of weather. High School Principal Steve Jacoby said a new date hasn't been chosen but student council members are determined to hold the event. Students sleep in makeshift cardboard boxes to raise awareness and money for the district’s homeless assistance program.

Source: Staff Report

Bentonville announced its first two make-up days will be holidays, Jan. 20 and Feb. 17. The next three are May 30, June 2 and June 3.

Fayetteville will use four Saturdays as make-up days. The academic calendar information was included in a handbook for parents and is on the district website. The first make-up day will be Jan. 25, a Saturday. Other make-up days in order of their scheduling are March 14, Feb. 8, April 4; April 12; May 3; June 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. Other Saturday sessions are Feb. 8, April 12 and May 3.

Springdale has five days built into its calendar for inclement weather, meaning that school will be dismissed for the summer June 3, said Rick Schaeffer, public information officer. Additional make-up days are scheduled for Jan. 20, Feb. 14, March 8, 24, 25 and April 5, as needed. If even more days are needed, they will be added to the end of the school year, therefore, extending the school year into June. Two of the dates, March 8 and April 5, are Saturdays.

Arkansas law requires 178 student contact days for all districts. Days missed have to be made up to meet the requirement. School districts have an option to request a waiver from the Arkansas State Board of Education, however, very few requests have been approved at that level in recent years.

A separate make-up day schedule has been announced for schools on a continuous learning calendar in Bentonville and Fayetteville.

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