Dear Bearcat Community,
Despite our hopes for a mild winter, Bristol has already been visited by two significant winter storms, and we are hoping the third in three weeks slips by us without much harm. These storms have resulted in lost instructional time, and for that reason, I have engaged school division leaders and school board members in a discussion about altering the upcoming school calendar. The School Board has agreed with my recommendation to change Monday, February 16th, to a regular school day. This date had previously been identified as part of our Winter Break. Now, instead of a four-day weekend, we will have a three-day weekend for Winter Break. The decision to take a day away from Winter Break was also a decision to preserve, as much as we are able, the Spring Break at the end of March.
Public schools in Virginia are required to develop school calendars for a minimum of 180 school days. As cancelations happen, schools have historically been expected to add snow makeup days back into the calendar. When schools are not able to meet the 180-day requirement, the state has allowed school divisions to certify that they have met the requirement by having provided at least 990 hours of instructional time. Within the past few years, however, the state has provided additional relief by allowing school divisions to implement "unscheduled remote learning" days. Instead of canceling or being closed for a day, schools can have students and teachers participate remotely. The state allows school divisions to use ten days of remote learning throughout the year, but these days cannot be placed on the calendar ahead of time.
Several school divisions in our part of the state have already requested additional remote learning days and that the state waives the 990 clock-hour requirement for those school divisions. Waivers and additional remote learning days will only be granted to school divisions that have altered their calendars to add time back into the school year. This can be achieved by shortening a scheduled break, holding school on Saturdays, extending the length of each school day, or adding school days to the end of the school year. Even though we have been in school more than any other school division in our region of Virginia, we must still make some decisions about how to adjust our calendar for the rest of the school year. If we do not attempt to recover some of the lost time, Bristol Virginia Public Schools will not be eligible for the state waivers that many surrounding school divisions are already submitting.
We have already closed school on three occasions, used three of our ten remote learning days, and have lost approximately 14 hours of instruction to delays and early releases. Our plan will be to use remote learning days for the next four instances when we would otherwise have to be closed for inclement weather.
Thank you for your understanding, and I do apologize for the short notice on the calendar change in February. If you have questions, please feel free to email me at dscott@bvps.org.
Sincerely,
David D. Scott, Ed.D.
Superintendent