The day that many students have been dreading has come to present; East Noble school days have been extended for one hour from February 24 – March 27 to compensate for four of the fourteen days missed due to snow. School hours will run from the normal 7:45 AM to the extended 3:58 PM.
Since January 5, snow has consistently hit the area with a fury, leaving school canceled for fourteen days, and these storms have left administrators, teachers, and students scrambling around with schedules, homework, and testing. In fact, the school year was going to last so long that the class of 2014 will have to wait until June 15 to graduate, previously scheduled for June 7.
If the days were to be tacked onto the end of the school year, the year would last until June 13, but, thanks to East Noble’s administration, the school year should only last until June 6, barring any other cancellations. According to East Noble’s superintendent, Ann Linson, these are the reasons why school will not last nearly as long:
• 2 Waived by the Indiana Department of Education
• 2 Added on June 5 and June 6
• 4 Days to be attended on previously scheduled make up days, February 17, May 9, 16, and 23
• 1 Day to be made up on Good Friday, April 18
• 4 Days made up by adding one hour to the end of the day February 24 – March 27
• 1 Day made up by eliminating collaboration on March 17 and 24 (1 hour) with secondary students (7-12) completing five hours of eLearning on Friday, March 28
Many students agree with the decision to extend school hours, and many students do not (see the video for confirmation). Nevertheless, students will continue to attend school for an extra hour, and teachers will continue to cram as many lessons in as possible.
The two days waived by the Indiana Department of Education were dismissed because of the Level 1 Snow Emergency placed on Noble County during two of the days following the largest system of the year. On top of the emergency, the wind chill was below -30 degrees, far too cold for students to commute to school. This waiver was offered by Glenda Ritz, the Indiana State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the application was filed by East Noble School Corporation.
“What is eLearning?” some may ask. Well, eLearning is available to East Noble School Corporation thanks to the 1:1 Initiative taken by adding technology to a student-based learning environment. To make up the recently canceled day of school, teachers will assign work to students the day before Spring Break, and the students will finish the work, using their laptops, on the designated day (March 28 in this case). The goal is to, in the future, be able to assign work on canceled days in order to avoid the need to make up snow days at the end of the year.
The two collaboration days that were relieved of their half-hour delays are the final two Mondays before Spring Break, so mark all calendars in order to arrive to school on time!
Lastly, many may be upset about school being in session on Good Friday, April 18, but if a student has a religious obligation, his absence will be excused, and therefore will not be counted against him.
Patience truly is a virtue! Hopefully the rumor about an approaching storm system is false and no one has to worry about any more snow days, but, until then, this is the ultimate plan put into place by an extremely busy East Noble School Corporation.