Days Creek Charter School has ran out of “cushion” when it comes to cancelled days. Friday school, days added to the end of the school year in June or a longer school day are a possibility, thanks to snow last week.
Days Creek offers hours at the lower end allowed by the state. That becomes a problem when school is cancelled by snow or power outages, which happened earlier in the school year.
“If we lose another day, we have to recover it,” Days Creek superintendent Joe La Fountaine said. “We will have to add another day to the school year. We will be having a meeting with the teachers to see if that will be on Fridays or add a day at end of year.”
Snow cancelled school on Feb. 4-5 and a power outage on Oct. 10 used up all of Days Creek’s cushion. La Fountaine said the school is required by the state to provide 980 hours of instructional time to grades 9-11, 966 to seniors, and 900 grades K-8.
There is a chance that the school could test out its newly approved bell schedule for next school year, which lets students out at 3:45 p.m. instead of 3:25. That 20-minute extension could allow the school to meets its hours requirement.
In 2025-26, the school will have more flexibility on snow days and other missed days because of the extension.
“The easiest way to compact a school year is to extend the school day,” La Fountaine said. “If you add 3 minutes to each class and get out at 3:45 instead of 3:25, it helps us recover that time. It sounds silly, but 20 minutes adds up fast.”
La Fountaine said the new bell schedule will give the school eight days of “slack” in cancelled days that would not have to be made up, in contrast to three days, which have been taken up already this year.
The weather forecast for next week calls for slight chances of rain and snow in Days Creek, with highs in the 40s and lows in the 20s.
