Saturday a makeup day for local students

The giggles erupting from red-nosed, bundled up kids make chilly snow days an enjoyable break from the regular school week — but the days off mean Orange County Schools students will have to go to school for a make-up day on Saturday.

Orange County Schools are prepared to host a school day on an early release schedule this Saturday to make up for Thursday’s snow day. .

“We are not really that happy about it,” said Angie Cooper, secretary of the Parent Teacher Association at Efland-Cheeks Elementary School.

“I understand they have to do the make up time but I wish there had been more days built into the schedule for make up time so that Saturdays weren’t necessary.”

Because of icy conditions this week, Orange County students did not go to school on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. The first two snow days will be made up later this year.

Cooper said because Thursday’s snow day and the Saturday school day are in the same week, it leaves little time to rearrange weekend plans.

“As explained to me, making up school days comes down to hours, not really days, so I don’t see why they couldn’t add hours by making a half day during the week a full day,” she said.

Seth Stephens, spokesman for Orange County Schools, said the possibility of having Saturday school because of missed days from snow was decided by the Orange County Board of Education in November.

“Calendars have to have a plan for making up days,” Stephens said.

“We realize that Saturday school may be inconvenient for some folks, but we set it up so that the calendar still protects spring break, which was taken into consideration when the make up days were being planned.”

Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, which is a separate district, has not had to address the possibility of Saturday school this year.

Jeffrey Nash, spokesman for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, said in an email that the district was fortunate because the snow day on Monday was already a scheduled teacher workday.

“We have a predetermined list of weather makeup dates before the school year even starts,” Nash said. “If we run out of makeup dates, we would consider Saturdays. But so far, that is not the case.”

Nash said it’s up to each school district to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of assigning makeup days during spring break or on Saturdays.

“Usually, cancellations are less about the weather and more about the road conditions, as well as the conditions of our parking lots and sidewalks,” Nash said.

“The first and most important question we have to continually ask is, ‘What is safest for our children?’ That may not always be what is most convenient for parents, but it is our priority – and that is unwavering.”

city@dailytarheel.com