Snow blows school schedules

Published 10:43 pm Monday, January 27, 2014

As Suffolk schools prepare for another bout with snow, students can expect a fairly minimal amount of extra instruction to make up for last week’s absences.

In what would be welcome news for public school students, school district spokeswoman Bethanne Bradshaw says the snow days missed on Wednesday and Thursday “are covered by extra instructional hours and will not be made up.”

The snow day missed on Friday, however, would be made up on Feb. 17, the Presidents Day holiday.

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“The board-approved calendar has the next days missed to be made up on Memorial Day, and then on Saturday,” Bradshaw said in an email.

Meanwhile, last week’s winter wonderland wreaked havoc on exam schedules. History, science, English and math Standards of Learning local nine-week exams, as well as midterms, had been set for public school grades six through 12.

In public elementary schools, pre-kindergarten and second- and third-grade students were scheduled for phonological awareness literacy screening, and math (grades one through five) and English (grades three through five) SOL local nine-week testing had also been scheduled.

Exams that had been scheduled for Jan. 22 were taken on Monday, which remained an early dismissal day; those that had been set for Jan. 23 were to be held Tuesday, changed to an early dismissal day for all students. Assuming that Tuesday’s storm doesn’t interfere with plans, tests that were set for Friday, Jan. 24 are rescheduled for Wednesday, which would become an early dismissal day for all students.

Schedule changes for this week, posted on the district’s website Sunday, also state that Thursday and Friday will remain full days for all students.

Also, the College Board will reschedule SAT exams that had been planned for Jan. 25 at Lakeland and King’s Fork high schools and were also canceled due to the snow, Bradshaw said.

Nansemond-Suffolk Academy closed Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and canceled afternoon and evening activities on Tuesday, according to spokeswoman Ashley Greene.

Another NSA spokeswoman, Tracie Thorndike, said in an email she could not provide any examination rescheduling or other information. “Obviously our administration is watching the weather carefully and will make some decisions regarding closings and whatnot as soon as possible,” she said.

NSA announced later Monday it will close at 11:45 a.m. Tuesday. All later activities, including the Art Show and Sale, will not be held.

Suffolk Christian Academy, which also had closings last week, also did not have additional information. “We’re currently watching the weather and will decide later,” school spokeswoman Yvette Farrenkopf said.

The National Weather Service has issued a storm warning for Suffolk from 10 a.m. Tuesday to 1 p.m. Wednesday, with predicted snow accumulation of as much as 10 inches.