In the face of an extreme and prolonged period of winter weather leading to historic snowfall, Davie County Schools (along with many other districts across North Carolina) has exhausted its allotment of 5 remote instructional days for students, resulting in 4 school closures across the past two weeks. Without calendar flexibility, the district has been left with no other option to ensure student safety and provide learning opportunities.
In response to this situation, Davie County Schools superintendent Dr. Heath Belcher joined various other superintendents across the state in a joint letter, authored by Guilford County Schools superintendent Whitney Oakley, to the NC Speaker of the House and Senate President Pro Tempore in a request for greater remote day flexibility.
Across the state, snowfall amounts climbed as high as the double digits from the coast to the mountains. Some areas of Davie County received between 4 and 6 inches of snowfall, according to a WXII12 report tracking snowfall from the historic snowstorm Gianna, after experiencing significant ice accumulations in a previous storm.
With the unusually severe winter weather and compounded snow and ice storms, Davie County Schools has been forced to close for multiple days and make use of state-allotted remote days while transportation teams work to make roads and campuses safe. However, the onset of this unprecedented winter weather has brought with it several calendar-related challenges for Davie County and other districts across the state.
The North Carolina state legislature is responsible for regulating the calendar of public schools. Section 115C-84.2 outlines specific guidelines as to when schools are allowed to start and end, how many instructional hours or days are necessary in a school year, and how many teacher work days are required, among other regulations. While §115C-82.4 states that a school calendar should have a plan for making up lost instructional time that can include remote days, §115C-84.3 goes into greater detail about what remote days entail and how many days are allotted for schools — only 5.
Oakley cites various reasons for this request. In Guilford County and across the state, commercial salt brine and snow melt have been both expensive and scarce, while pavement temperatures below 20 degrees have rendered the brine useless. The onset of two snow and ice storms a week apart from each other has compounded the risk of winter weather, making it difficult for transportation teams to clear ice and snow before it accumulates again. Lastly, Oakley notes that while urban roads may be safe for vehicles, the suburban and rural areas that comprise significant portions of Guilford, Davie, and various other counties remain unsafe.
Oakley’s letter requested more remote day flexibility for schools facing emergency conditions and emergency funding for ice melt materials through a legislative solution that would provide more certainty for long-term planning. While §115C-82.4 gives the State Board of Education the power to provide necessary calendar flexibility in emergency conditions if the need arises, Oakley seeks a long-term solution to the remote day allotment problem.
Currently, some schools are eligible for a waiver for the 5-remote-day policy in favor of an extension of 15 days, as long as the school has been closed for at least 8 days in any 4 of the last 10 years. The waiver also allows these schools to start up to a week earlier than the general requirement to account for anticipated closures. For schools that don’t typically anticipate extreme weather or fall short of the 8-day closure requirement, the calendar and remote day guidelines don’t provide much room for adjustment when emergencies do arise. However, if legislative action is taken to afford more flexibility with remote day allocations, fewer districts will be faced with school closures as the only option in emergency situations.
Oakley sent the joint letter in an email to the state legislature on Sunday, February 1. The North Carolina General Assembly will likely tackle this issue after reconvening on Monday, February 9.
