Will students make up snow days? Districts ask state for reprieve
Tacoma students might not have to make up the three snow days they had this week.
Tacoma Public School officials submitted a request to the state asking to waive the days that were missed due to “weather-related school closures and Gov. Jay Inslee’s declaration of a state of emergency,” district spokesman Dan Voelpel told The News Tribune on Thursday.
“As soon as we hear back from the State Superintendent of Public Instruction regarding our waiver request, we will announce the school year schedule changes,” Voelpel added.
Districts will hear back from the state if their waiver requests were granted within a week, depending on the volume of requests received, said OSPI spokeswoman Katy Payne.
Waivers for snow days aren’t guaranteed. Districts must submit requests to OSPI detailing the reason for the closure and any foreseeable future closures, and only days can be waived, not instructional hours.
Districts are required by state law to provide an average of 1,027 instructional hours to students. There is “no legal authority” to waive these hours.
It was not clear how many hours Tacoma schools needed to complete the year. Earlier this month, district officials said it was possible seniors would need to attend Saturday school to obtain the required days needed to graduate.
Tacoma’s school schedule is stretched thin for makeup days after a teacher strike in September postponed the start of school by a week. To compensate, the district shortened its holiday breaks, including spring break by two days.
Tacoma schools also had one snow day on Feb. 4. That missed day came before Inslee declared a state of emergency on Feb. 10 and will have to be made up. As of right now, the last day of school for Tacoma is Wednesday, June 19.
School districts that submit waivers “will not lose state apportionment dollars for days waived by OSPI due to the winter storm and Governor’s state of emergency,” according to an OSPI email sent to superintendents.
Puyallup School District officials also are considering applying for a waiver and will discuss the decision at the next school board meeting on Feb. 19. Puyallup schools missed two days of school this week. The district’s latest 2018-19 calendar shows the last day of school Friday, June 21, with emergency makeup days on June 24 and 25.
This story was originally published February 14, 2019 at 3:19 PM.
