Spring ISD has designated Monday, Feb. 19 as a regular school day for students to make up for instructional time lost to weather so far this school year, including the recent winter storm.
By turning Feb. 19 into a regular school day from a Professional Development Day for teachers, district leaders hope to honor the needs of both teachers and students who would benefit from additional time together in the classroom.
“We were scheduled this academic year for a total of 174 days but have missed 12 days because of bad weather events, which have posed challenges at our campuses,” said Dr. Lupita Hinojosa, chief of School Leadership and Student Support Services.
She noted that the district was not making this change to meet Texas Education Agency requirements but to recoup some of the instructional time lost because of the extraordinary weather events this school year.
“We had enough minutes built into our instructional calendar to absorb the two days recently lost due to the ice storm,” Hinojosa said. “Our students need face-to-face instruction, and this change will help us gain back a day of instruction with minimal impact to our calendar.”
Frequently Asked Questions:
Q. Are we required to make up the two days that were recently closed due to the ice storm?
A. No. We had enough minutes built into our instructional calendar to absorb the two days recently lost due to the ice storm, but we are concerned about the overall loss of instructional time this year because of weather events. In all, students and teachers have lost 12 days, and we recognize the importance of trying to recoup some of that time. Our students need face-to-face instruction, and this change will help us gain back a day of instruction with minimal impact to our calendar.
Q. How did we have enough minutes left in our instructional calendar after Hurricane Harvey? Didn’t Hurricane Harvey use up the instructional minutes built into our calendar for inclement weather events?
A. Hurricane Harvey was treated differently than a regular inclement weather event, with the Texas Education Commissioner waiving 10 missed days for districts in affected areas. Here at Spring ISD, we did change one student holiday/staff development day on April 9, 2018 to a regular school day after Hurricane Harvey to give us a one-day cushion should we need additional instructional time later in the school year. That planned day of instruction in April and the extra minutes a day purposely built into our calendar are now what we are using to help make up the time recently missed due to the ice storm.
Q. If we were to have another inclement weather day, would we need to have a makeup day?
A. Yes, if any more inclement weather days occur this year, we will likely need to make them up to meet Texas Education Agency (TEA) requirements. Our current calendar has a half day on Thursday, May 31 that could be extended to a full day to make up needed instructional minutes as well as an assigned make up day on June 1 that could be used.
For more, please visit
www.springisd.org