MCSD board votes on using holiday to make up snow day. Here’s the decision.

In a called meeting Monday evening, the Muscogee County School Board denied the superintendent’s request to use Presidents Day, originally scheduled as a district holiday, to make up one of the four days of classes lost due to severe weather this school year.

Superintendent David Lewis’ recommendation failed in the 3-4-1 vote. Five votes are needed to take action on the nine-member board.

Voting yes were Pat Hugley Green of District 1, Naomi Buckner of District 4 and Laurie McRae of District 5. Voting no were vice chairman Mark Cantrell of District 6, John Thomas of District 2, Vanessa Jackson of District 3 and Cathy Williams of District 7. Chairwoman and countywide representative Kia Chambers abstained. Frank Myers of District 8 was absent.

The state allows school districts to miss as many as four of the scheduled 180 days of classes per academic year without having to make up the time. MCSD is at the limit: Jan. 17-18, because of the snow and ice, and Sept. 11-12, because of Tropical Storm Irma.

In an email to MCSD employees Friday afternoon, Lewis wrote, “These four cancelled days of school represent a concerning amount of lost instructional time for our students.” Then he explained his recommendation’s rationale.

“My reasoning is that President’s Day is typically not considered a major travel holiday and it is the only day before statewide testing begins other than Spring Break, for which many families already have travel plans,” Lewis wrote. “In the event that students or school personnel have already made plans for February 19 that cannot be altered (weddings, college visitations, medical procedures, etc.), they will be excused with appropriate documentation.”

But MCSD and most of Georgia’s school districts have contracts with the state that allow them flexibility from certain state laws and requirements in exchange for meeting annual performance targets. MCSD, which is a Strategic Waivers School System, has a waiver from the state law requiring schools to make up missed instructional time when it exceeds four days, Georgia Department of Education communications director Meghan Frick told the Ledger-Enquirer in an email Friday.

During the board’s discussion Monday before the vote, some members explained in advance their opinion of the recommendation.

Williams said she communicated with parents, teachers and coaches, researched the issue and acknowledged the superintendent is doing his job as the district’s educational leader. She also said, “A day is different to different people. A day in the life of a child who’s on the cusp of passing and failing makes a big a difference. A day in the life of a special-needs child that needs that structure and continuity is a big deal.

“But -- and I appreciate that -- but after giving a lot of thought and discussion to a large number of constituents, I have to come down on the side of so many who have made plans. I’ve had a church call me and tell me that is their weekend for their youth winter retreat. These items might sound trivial, but they’re not: people who have planned out-of-state vacations based on those dates; teams that are going to have entire teams at games and tournaments on that day. And so, I just think, for all of those reasons -- and as much as I appreciate that the superintendent is doing his job -- I, as the representative of my constituents in District 7, am going to have to vote against this.”

Green said she also got a lot of phone calls about this controversy.

“Even though we don’t have to make up the days, I do think it’s important that our children have 180 days of instruction, because that’s very critical,” Green said. “That’s more important than my day of rest or anything else. Instructional time when it’s lost is detrimental to the children. ... For me, it’s whatever is the recommendation of the superintendent, because I do see both sides.”

McRae noted that many students have missed school during this tough flu season -- and her two children in high school “are not happy with me” because but she supports canceling the holiday.

“I am concerned about the missed instructional time,” McRae said. “We’re sitting here at the end of January and we’ve already missed four days. … What else is coming ahead of us?”

Jackson asked for the school district to be “proactive” and “set aside” some days in future calendars in case of severe weather. Williams suggested designating Presidents Day as a contingency day so the public would know the district would cancel that holiday if the district closed any day before then.

“I’m fine with that,” Lewis said.

This story was originally published January 29, 2018 at 6:17 PM with the headline "MCSD board votes on using holiday to make up snow day. Here’s the decision.."