Students happily enjoyed having nearly two weeks  off of school. Consequently, the many hours lost have to be made up.

There were three options released by FCPS Superintendent,  Dr. Jack Dale. The original release included three possible options that the nation’s 12th largest school system would consider. However, after receiving feedback from employees, parents, and other sources, including The A-Blast, Dr. Dale is only recommending one of the three options.

Students and teachers alike agreed that an extra three days of school added at the end of the year would fulfill Virginia requirements of 180 days in a school year.  This decision will make the teacher workday on April 12 a regular school day, and will extend school until June 25.  June 28 through June 30 will now be back-up days for any additional snow days.

Originally, the first option called for 30 minutes to be added to the school day. While the adjustments necessary were not overwhelming, this would have allowed only seven to eight minutes to be added to each class period. While this option would have technically fulfilled Virginia requirements, the class time lost to the snow could not have been re-taught in this amount of time. “Extra time at the end of the school-day could interfere with students’ extra curricular activities,” said freshmen Natasha.

Option number two proposed that AHS students would have been released at 2:45, by adding 45 minutes to the school day. This would have caused major problems for families who live on tight schedules. Furthermore, students in clubs or activities would have been hampered by limited time, as many AHS activities are a daily commitment. Since this option would have affected all public schools, some elementary schools would have been released at 4:00. This adjustment in schedule would have been too difficult to make a reality.  Most students can scarcely make it through a full-fledged, six-and-a-half hour school-day, let alone a seven hour day.

AHS math teacher Leonida Gibson supported this saying “I am not sure the students will be attentive if we extend the school day.”

All three of these options have the down side of additional school, but the decision to add three extra school-days is simply the best choice, as SOL dates will not be moved.  Agreeing to this point, sophomore Angelica Bolds said, “Three days at the end of the school-year would give me extra time to be with my friends.”

Any future missed school days will surely cause more problems, as FCPS always has a hard time negotiating with parents.