With students out of school on Monday and Tuesday of this week following 6.5 inches of sleet and snow falling Sunday leaving behind slippery and sometimes, impassable, roads, there have been a total of 16 days missed from Pea Ridge schools. If no more days are missed and without a waiver from the State Department of Education, students will attend school through June 10, said Rick Neal, school superintendent.
On Feb. 24, Neal sent a letter to Dr. Tom Kimbrell, commissioner of the Arkansas Department of Education, requesting a waiver for all days missed above 10 days. He said he does not yet know the response to that waiver. That request included any days missed after the writing of the letter, as well, Neal said.
Two days were taken out of the end of the winter break bringing students back two days early to attend classes Thursday, Jan. 2, and Friday, Jan. 3. Two days at the beginning of spring break were scheduled as make-up snow days and are now included in instructional time cutting spring break to Wednesday, March 26, through Friday, March 28.
The school calendar is approved annually by the School Board after the teachers vote on it.
"We've used all the days we can use," Neal said. "There is nothing else but Saturdays. We know that Saturdays are not profitable instructional days."
According to Neal, students did attend school on Martin Luther King Day and President's Day.
"The Pea Ridge Board of Education received input from the faculty, staff, and community prior to making a decision on the ten make-up days scheduled in the current calendar. I urge the State Board of Education and you to support the ability of local boards of education to determine the make-up days that best meet the needs of the community and students," Neal wrote to Kimbrell.
General News on 03/05/2014