Clarksburg, West Virginia — West Virginia has reached that point, with enough snow days to extend the semester into June.
After the majority of the state was closed due to winter weather on Thursday, several school districts in north central West Virginia have reached that point and are updating their academic calendars to meet the required 180 days of instruction.
Randolph County, for example, has had several weeks of snow days since the start of the year and announced its makeup schedule on Thursday, which already includes a shortened spring break and several additional days after graduation.
Webster, Preston, and Tucker counties have all announced similar changes. The latest scheduled day for students in the area is June 5.
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A certain number of these days must be scheduled after the 130th instructional day, which is typically around March 1, according to West Virginia Code, to allow for additional instructional days at the end of the year. School districts are also allowed to use up to five nontraditional instructional (NTI) days per school year.
Including the built-in days, the academic calendar cannot exceed 200 days. This means that at the end of the semester, instructional days cannot be added and NTI days cannot be used any longer. So, what happens when there are more snow days than makeup days available?
In that case, the board must schedule instruction on any available non-instructional day scheduled prior to the end of the instructional term, excluding holidays or election days, regardless of why the day was originally scheduled.
A number of school districts in north central West Virginia, including Harrison, Taylor, and Doddridge, have announced that they have exhausted all of their available NTI days. Monongalia, Marion, and Lewis counties have all stated that they have run out of built-in weather days and will begin making up days over spring break and at the end of the year.
