SC resolution would forgive Helene make-up days. Only one district needs it.
Hurricane Helene snapped utility poles and downed lines across South Carolina on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, particularly in the Upstate and along the Georgia border. (Paul Hyde/Special to the SC Daily Gazette)
COLUMBIA — A school district that missed days because of Hurricane Helene could avoid making them up under a resolution proposed in the state House.
The storm forced schools along the Georgia border and in the Upstate to close for upwards of a week in many cases. With hundreds of thousands of residents without power for days, districts did not have the option of switching to e-learning, a now-common replacement for snow days.
Only one district would need the resolution, which a House subcommittee advanced unanimously Wednesday. Spartanburg School District 4 closed for 10 school days, one more than it could get forgiven by local and state education boards. After a week without power, teachers found what appeared to be mold on some desks, so the district remained closed long enough to test air quality and have classrooms professionally cleaned, according to the district's Facebook page.
Under a 2015 law, districts must build three makeup days into their schedule in case of extreme weather. Those can be tacked onto the end of the school year, or districts can require students complete work on Saturdays or teacher work days, either in-person or virtually, to make up the time.
Once those days have been used or the dates have passed, districts can ask the local school board to waive up to three more days. The state Board of Education can vote to forgive another three days after that.
SC led Southeast in customers in the dark days after Helene. Utilities respond to complaints.
The state Board of Education will consider requests from several districts looking for waivers at its April 1 meeting. The deadline to apply for waivers is still open, so the state Department of Education could not give a number of how many districts have applied, a spokesman said.
Districts in Spartanburg, Greenville, Cherokee, Anderson and Pickens counties remained closed the week after the storm hit the state in September. Some schools, such as districts in Greenwood and Aiken counties, were on fall break that week, meaning they missed few, if any, days.
Only once a district has received waivers from local and state boards will the Legislature step in. A nine-member subcommittee voted to change the resolution Wednesday to add that districts looking to have school days forgiven at a state level must submit a plan showing how they would 'create a more appropriate schedule' to avoid the same request in the future.
'My hope is that it doesn't continue to happen,' said Rep. Shannon Erickson, a Beaufort Republican who leads the education committee.
State revenue pays for 180 days of instruction, so forgiving the extra days would constitute 'throwing away' that money, said Rep. Phillip Bowers. At the same time, school districts should be able to decide what they can or can't make up, Bowers said.
'I'm really torn on this one,' the Six Mile Republican said, before voting to support the resolution.
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