West Fork approves 2019-20 calendar

The West Fork Community School Board discussed winter delays and the next school year calendar during their regular meeting on Monday, February 18.

The onslaught of winter storms has resulted in the loss of nine school days and 14 additional instructional hours due to cancellations and shortened school days. Currently the school year is scheduled to end on June 6 to complete their required 1080 instructional hours.

Ideas of how to reign that date back a little bit were discussed, but none were considered viable. One suggestion would be to extend the school day by 15 minutes, either at the start or the end. However, starting the school day 15 minutes early would likely not be appreciated by those that live in the fringes of the district, who already have to be ready for the bus early in the morning. Likewise, extending the school day later would brush up against spring activities.

In either case, the board recognized that an additional 15 minutes of school day would be effectively meaningless in regards to instruction time and it would take about a month of extended days to knock a single day off the calendar, making it not worth the hassle it would cause.

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