Winter Storm Fern wreaked havoc on Tennessee – and as a result, many school districts used most or all of their built-in snow days.
What does that mean for students, teachers, and families?
Tennessee law requires schools to have 6.5-hour school days for 180 days per school year. Schools usually have seven-hour school days, which allows districts to stockpile up to 13 extra days.
Districts use those stockpile days differently and build them into their calendars at the beginning of the school year, often allocating some days for professional development and reserving some for inclement weather.
Tennessee districts tend to have between 8 and 13 stockpiled days.
What if they run out, as some districts have now used all of those days?
Schools can use four days of hybrid instruction per year and up to five days of remote instruction per semester due to severe weather if they run out of stockpile days, a Tennessee Department of Education spokesperson said. But those options aren’t feasible during the widespread weather impacts many in Tennessee are facing this month.
So, if weather prevented the use of hybrid or remote instruction, then what?
Districts are able to tack on make-up school days at the end of the school year if they run over on their stockpile days, or absorb stockpile days previously set aside for professional development.
But school districts could now be eligible for a special waiver granted by the Tennessee Department of Education in the event of a natural disaster. This would relieve districts of the 180-day instructional requirement under Tennessee law.
Previous TDOE guidance states waivers would only be granted as a “last resort in extreme circumstances,” though Gov. Bill Lee has declared a state of emergency due to the severe winter weather impacts.
