With 83 days left in the school year, the Groveton School Board decided that a change to the school calendar was necessary, due to the school district losing instructional time because of severe weather on Jan. 11. 

Since Jan 11 was not already a bad weather day, the school board voted to move the bad weather day from March 22. This change resulted in a new school calendar being released in order to comply with state requirements.

“The state requires the school district to have a minimum of 75,600 minutes in their school calendar,” Superintendent Don Hamilton said.

The required minutes include times between classes, instructional time, and time for lunch. In one school day, there is 396 instructional minutes, and 450 minutes from the first to last bell.

Although this schedule change only occurred because of a bad weather day, Hamilton did express that while on quarantine, the school is still required to take attendance of students.

“Students are required to check in with the school to provide additional proof that [students] are engaged in remote learning and making an actual effort to complete their assignments,” Hamilton said.

If the school has to shutdown for a day to bad weather again, school officials can request a waiver from the state. However, if the school has to shutdown for another quarantine, the school board might have to change the calendar again.

“Hopefully not, but yes it is possible,” Hamilton said. “It depends on how many built-in-days remain on the calendar when the event occurs.”

There are also concerns about the school district loosing instructional time due to COVID – 19 related absences.

“As for having to shut down for COVID, we will have to go to remote learning,” Hamilton said. “We try to shut down as few [grades] as possible for a quarantine”

If a student is on quarantine, the student will have to check in with an assigned person every morning. This includes checking Google Classroom for any missing assignments or upcoming assignments.

“[Students] are given a specific time frame to log in and complete work,” Hamilton said.

For junior high and high school students, the assigned person to check in with is Kathleen Cockrell. For elementary students, the assigned person is Chandra Lee. A student only has to check in with the assigned person if they are on a personal quarantine; however, if the entire school is on quarantine, a student still has to check Google Classroom for assignments.

The new calendar can be viewed on the district site at https://www.grovetonisd.net/apps/pages/calendar