Discussions with school principals in Fayette County resulted in a Feb. 26 decision to recoup the several days missed from two winter storms in February without having students make up the time with additional school days.

“After a lengthy meeting on the topic, the consensus among principals at all school levels (elementary, middle and high) was that modifications could be made to the existing school day schedule to accommodate the missed instructional days,” said school system spokesperson Melinda Berry-Dreisbach.

Berry-Dreisbach said all testing schedules will remain unchanged.

“One concern was the CRCT (Criterion-Referenced Competency Test). However, in comparing last year’s testing calendar to this year’s calendar, and taking the lost winter weather days into consideration, students will have the same number of instructional days counting from the end of the semester break to the week of the CRCT,” said Berry-Dreisbach. “That works out to 56 instructional days for both calendars. This in part is due to the CRCT testing window being a week later this year than last.”

Pertaining to high school tests such as Advanced Placement (AP) and End of Course Tests (EOCT), Berry-Dreisbach said schools will use their “instructional focus” time to catch up students if needed.

Any additional missed days due to severe weather conditions could alter these decisions, but for now, the school calendar will remain unchanged, said Berry-Dreisbach.