MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Students in Monongalia County Schools are preparing for Spring Break, though the break is slightly shorter than they originally planned.
Spring Break was one of three changes the Monongalia County Board of Education made to the school calendar during its Tuesday meeting, to account for the nine instructional days missed during the statewide work stoppage.
“Now I know some people may be a little concerned because they planned activities, especially for Spring Break, and I know people do make deposits and book things, so the state in general and our county in particular are not going to be seriously concerned about time the students miss if they have these obligations,” Monongalia County BOE President Barbara Parsons said. “We certainly encourage them to attend and we’re leaving it up to the parents to decide how they would like to deal with that.”
April 2 and 3, originally part of students’ Spring Break, were changed to instructional days. In addition, May 29 through June 6 are also changed to in-school instructional days, with June 6 being the last day of the school year.
Now halfway through March, students and faculty alike are hoping that winter weather behind us, as even one more snow day will delay that extension even further.
“We still have the obligation for the teachers, so that might require us to add an additional day or so. We’re being very optimistic,” Parsons said. “If we have to make up another day, I’m sure we would adjust the calendar to do that, and it would be on the other end. Obviously, we can go until June 29.”
Students’ final exams will continue on June 5 and 6, and other standardized tests will be held at various times. However, Parsons said there has been some concern about Advanced Placement testing.
“I think we worked really hard to catch those students up and do the best we can to get those students ready for their exams because those are exams that allow college credits to be given, so that was a concern,” she said. “We have a nice, healthy program in Advanced Placement here in Mon County, so several of the teachers did assist with that during the work stoppage so that their students were not disadvantaged.”
More information regarding calendar changes and requirement adjustments resulting from the work stoppage can be found here.