CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. — On Monday night the Jefferson County Board of Education discussed the possibility of replacing their Instructional Days with Minutes – a plan that would greatly increase the amount of flexibility at hand for scheduling classes.
The current code in West Virginia requires 180 days of instruction, but Superintendent of Jefferson County Schools, Dr. Bondy Shay Gibson, argues that because their school days are so much longer than average, a change to minutes instead could give them more leeway.
“For example, if your community values hunting traditions and wants to take off the entire week of Thanksgiving then it will let you back your calendar up. It lets you reflect the needs of your local community,” she explained.
She also said that on some replacement days attendance dropped as much as 15%, which doesn’t benefit anyone.
Because of the State of Emergency that Jefferson County was placed under, they will fortunately be able to submit reimbursement from the Federal Government to get back some funds that were spent on snow removal.
They utilized brine water instead of salt when clearing the roads which also saved them a great deal of money this year.
The current final day of instruction for Jefferson County Schools is Friday, June 3rd.