By Sarah Campbell
scampbell@salisburypost.com
High school students in the Rowan-Salisbury School System will begin exams Friday, pushing the start of the second semester back to Jan. 31.
The semester was originally set to begin Jan. 25, but the district has been playing catch up after students missed class every day last week due to icy road conditions.
“It is necessary to make this change in order to give teachers more time in this semester to help students prepare for exams since there was a 10-day break between when students were in class prior to the inclement weather and when students returned to class this week,” Rita Foil, the school system’s public information officer, said.
That 10-day break includes four weekend days, five days out of school for inclement weather and the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday Monday.
Students will still be attending school the state mandated 180 days, but Foil said revisions to the school’s calendar means there is a shift of two days between semesters.
“There are now 92 days in this semester and 88 days in the next semester,” she said. “High school teachers will have to make some adjustments in order to complete the required curriculum, but our teachers have been very good at making adjustments in their instructional schedules.”
The new exam schedule states exams will begin Friday and continue through Wednesday with make-ups and retests taking place next Thursday and Friday.
Students will be attending class Friday, Saturday and Monday to make up the first three days of missed school.
The final two make-up days are Feb. 21 and April 22 (Good Friday).
Superintendent Dr. Judy Grissom told the Post last week that the school system is running out of options for make-up days.
“There is a good possibility that students will be going to school on Saturdays and/or spring break if we have more inclement weather in the future,”
The revised school calender lists April 1, the remaining teacher workday, as a possibility, but after that Saturdays and spring break are on the chopping block.
The calendar lists Saturday Feb. 12, March 12 and April 9 as potential make-up days.
Spring break days including Tuesday April 26-29 are also options if more inclement weather keeps students out of school again.
Contact reporter Sarah Campbell at 704-797-7683.