Public Schools Request Waiver on Make-Up Days

The Jefferson County school district is planning to ask state government to waive making up days missed due to weather this school year. WFPL’s Elizabeth Kramer has more.Jefferson County Public Schools Superintendent Sheldon Berman says he plans to ask Gov. Steve Beshear to allow the school year to end by June 1. The original school calendar had students’ last day on May 21.So far, the district has eight days to make up. The wind and ices storms this school year have pushed the last day for students from May 27 to June 3.Berman says he is prepared if the Governor denies the request."Obviously if the state rejects the option of waiving days, we’ll be in school until the third," Berman says. "And we’ll do our absolute best to provide quality education all the way up to the very last minute of school."Under state policy, districts missing fewer than 20 days have to make them up.Berman says costs and other reasons factor into the request to not extend the year until June 3."We’ve found that attendance drops off pretty dramatically after Memorial Day, that graduations are more difficult," Berman says. "In addition, just because of the retirement system, we have numerous retirees who retire at the end of May, meaning that for those days in June we probably will have numerous substitutes in the schools." Officials from the Oldham and Bullitt County school districts say they do not plan to make a similar request. In Indiana, the school districts in Floyd and Clark counties have applied to the state to waive missed school days.