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Officials say they’re still looking into how students will make up for lost time.
State law requires students to attend school for 180 days a year. Some districts built makeup days into their calendars; others plan to tack extra days to the end of the year. And some plan to apply for a state waiver that would allow them to go without making up the time.
Here are the tentative plans for Thurston County’s public school districts, pending local school board approval.
North Thurston Public Schools: South Sound’s largest school district is applying for a waiver to excuse students from River Ridge High and Olympic View Elementary schools from making up a one-day closure due to a power outage, according to spokeswoman Courtney Schrieve.
The nearly 14,000-student district is expected to ask students to make up time Feb. 21 and June 18-20, she said.
Rainier School District: Officials in the 930-student district plan to apply for a waiver for the number of days that will be allowed by the governor, said superintendent Tim Garchow.
At this point, Feb. 17 will be a half-day to make up for a snow day, he said. In addition, Feb. 21, March 16 and May 25 are possible vacation days or snow-makeup days, depending on what happens with the waiver, Garchow said.
Olympia School District: The 9,400-student district has historically added makeup days to the end of the school year, said spokesman Ryan Betz.
However, because districts might be able to apply for a waiver for up to three lost days, the Olympia district is keeping its options open.
“We have not yet made a decision on which direction we plan to go and want to see how the rest of our winter plays out to see if we have any additional school closures because of the weather,” Betz said.
Tumwater School District: At this point, it looks like Tumwater’s 6,300 students will makeup the time at the end of the year.
“Based on the four days that we have missed so far, and if we don’t need to cancel school any additional days, we will add four days to the end of the school year,” spokeswoman Kim Howard said. “The last day of school is now June 21.”
Rochester School District: Students already made up their first snow day last Friday. The 2,400-student district is tentatively scheduled to make up the rest of the time Feb. 17, March 16 and June 15, said superintendent Kim Fry.
Yelm Community Schools: The 5,500-student district will hold classes Feb. 21 and May 25, the two makeup days that were built into its calendar, said spokeswoman Denise Bagwell said.
“We have also tentatively added two days to the end of our school year; June 18 and 19 to account for the full four days we missed,” she said. “… We have applied for the waiver releasing us of the requirement to make up two of those days. If granted the waiver, we will not add June 18 and 19 to the end of our school year.”
Tenino School District: Superintendent Russ Pickett said the 1,275-student district tentatively plans to change March 26 from an early release to a full day, turn March 30 into an early-release day and hold classes May 25 and June 13-15 (early release).
Griffin School District: Officials in the 670-student district haven’t decided how to make up for the K-8 district’s emergency closure, although days are traditionally added to the end of the school year, according to principal-superintendent Greg Woods.
“We are just beginning to discuss our options as a district,” he said. “Past practice has also dictated that we try and wait until the inclement weather time of year has passed before our board approves any changes to the school calendar.”
Lisa Pemberton: 360-754-5433
lpemberton@theolympian.com
www.theolympian.com/edblog
