Snow Days: State Education Department Considers Plan to Let Districts Trim School Year

Believe it or not, it's been almost a week since schools in the Portland metro area had to cancel classes because of the weather. Portland, Oregon City, Gresham-Barlow, West Linn-Wilsonville, Beaverton, Hillsboro, and Lake Oswego have all seen their schools years disrupted by snow days.

Most districts have had nine snow days since the school year started. Given that most of them plan for two snow days, there is concern about how they will be able to reach the required amount of instruction time they are supposed to provide to students.

"This year, districts have been faced with extreme weather and school closures," officials with the state education department wrote in a proposal that will be considered on Thursday. "Many districts have contacted the Oregon Department of Education with questions about the impact of school closures on instructional time requirements.

"In light of this year’s extreme weather and the resulting school closures, ODE is presenting to the State Board a proposal to afford some relief to school districts.

"The question before the State Board is how to balance the need to maintain instructional time requirements and provide some relief for school districts that are faced with unprecedented weather and resulting school closures."

Under the proposal, districts would be able to write off 14 hours, which translates to about two-and-a-half days.

The state recognizes that for many districts, which have lost 45 hours of instruction time or more, 14 hours is just a drop in the bucket.

"If a school district decides that 14 hours is not enough and would like to request a one-year waiver of the instructional time requirement, the district would have the option of making a request," according to the proposal.

The waiver would then approved by a vote of the State Board of Education."

The state will consider the proposal at the State Board of Education meeting on January 26 at the Public Service Building, Room 251, at 255 Capitol Street Northeast in Salem.

For those who can't go but want to watch, the meeting will be livestreamed at: https://livestream.com/accounts/4436497/ODEVideo.

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