The last day for Wythe County students on the current academic calendar is Thursday, May 27.
Superintendent Scott Jefferies told board members on Thursday that he is keeping his fingers crossed, saying that there are a few snow days left before time will have to be tacked on to the end of the year.
Regardless, under Gov. Ralph Northam’s instructions, schools will be in session in some way over the summer. The governor directed school divisions across the state to provide recovery opportunities for all students over the summer.
“We will have something available,” Jefferies said.
As long as the state remains in a state of emergency, virtual learning would have to be provided, Jefferies said.
He said that administrators will be meeting in the coming week about summer session, hoping, Jefferies said, to contain it to just the month of June, which would give students and teachers a nice break in July and part of August.
Jefferies said it’s yet to be determined who would be part of the summer program; however, it would be for elementary through high school students, with bus and meal service.
Becki James, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction, pointed out that with COVID-19 and a ton of waivers available, Wythe County’s summer school didn’t have any students last year. In fact, James said, summer school enrollment has declined steadily since moving block scheduling because failing students have the option to retake the class in the next semester. Typically, since the high schools moved to block schedules, summer schools have anywhere from eight to 12 students, hosted at the technology center over two sessions. Individual schools take care of their own remediation for testing while the tech center offered full courses and credit recovery classes.
James pointed out that schools are already working on credit recovery with students.
Officials also talked about when the next school year should start. Jefferies recommended an Aug. 16 date, which would allow high school students to wrap up the first semester before the holiday break. The superintendent said that the earlier start date would allow for 85 or 86 days in the first semester.
