In response to canceled school days due to inclement weather the week of Dec. 10-14, 2018, Henderson County Public Schools will be adding a week of make-up days at the end of the school year on both Traditional and Henderson County Early College calendars, with a few other minor changes to satisfy the state’s requirement of instructional hours.
“We realize it’s never an ideal situation when we have to make up time lost to inclement weather,” said Associate Superintendent Dr. John Bryant. “However, with significant uncertainty regarding what kind of future weather we may have between now and early spring, this decision by our administrators and board of education preserves calendar flexibility between now and the end of winter, while ensuring our students receive the quality, face-to-face instruction they deserve.”
In addition to making June 10-14, 2019, student days (with June 14 dismissing early at noon), changes to the Traditional calendar include designating Jan. 22, 2019, a student day for staff and students instead of a required teacher workday; Jan. 28, 2019, will now be a required teacher workday with no school for students instead of a student day. March 18, 2019, will now be an annual leave day instead of an optional teacher workday. April 15-17, 2019, are now “no days” instead of annual leave days for staff – though students’ and staff’s Spring Break remain intact for now.
“With this revision, no one is in school at that time – just like a regularly scheduled Spring Break – but the new designation of ‘no days’ helps prevent staff from having to use their annual leave days that are now dwindling, thanks to the snow days we had to take,” Bryant explained.
Finally, June 17, 2019 is now a required teacher workday for staff on the Traditional calendar.
A short week of school at the end of the year was also added to the Early College calendar: May 28-31, 2019, are now student days (with May 31 dismissing early at noon). Additional changes to the calendar include making Jan. 2, 2019, the first day back to school after the holiday break, instead of Jan. 3, 2019; the 2nd is now a student day instead of a required teacher workday. And March 18, 2019, is now an annual leave day instead of an optional teacher workday for staff on the Early College calendar.
As with the Traditional calendar, April 15-17, 2019, are now “no days” instead of annual leave days for staff on the Early College calendar, with students out the whole week as planned for Spring Break, for now.
“As always, future weather will dictate any other calendar revisions in the upcoming year,” Bryant said.
No calendar changes to the Flex calendar have been necessary; students and staff were out of school on break last week when inclement weather canceled school for students on the Traditional and Early College calendars. With respect to our district school calendars, Henderson County Public Schools adheres to the state mandated requirement of at least 1,025 hours of instruction [NC GS 115C – 84.2].
Barring any further instructional hours lost due to inclement weather, no further calendar revisions will be made. Up-to-date school calendars can be accessed via our school system website, or on the HCPS Mobile App. Users of the app can also opt to receive in-app push notifications for calendar updates, weather-related information, and more.