Each year the district incorporates several emergency closing days into our Board approved annual academic calendar. Schools are required to be in session a minimum of 180 days with 900 hours of instruction for grades K-6 and 990 hours for grades 7-12. If Schools fail to meet the minimum required days and/or hours of instruction, a portion of their State Aid can be withheld.
Traditionally once a district has used up all of its emergency closing days those instructional days are made up by taking back previously scheduled vacation days. Last year the State Education Department approved the use of "Remote Snow Days" as an option for emergency closing days.
Family vacations and holiday gatherings with family and friends can be critically important in the social and emotional development of children. In an effort to preserve this important family time the district has taken steps to develop a "Remote Snow Day" instructional plan that will be implemented for all emergency closing days for the remainder of 2022-23 school year..
While nothing can replace the quality of in-person learning that occurs each day in school, there is value in continuing to provide a certain level of synchronous and asynchronous educational activities through remote instruction.
As of today (3/24/2023) we have used all of our emergency closing days and one day beyond what was allocated for this school year. As a result Friday, May 26, 2023, will be a regular school day for RCS.
Since all of our traditional "snow days" are used, we will be piloting the use of "Remote Snow Days" for the remainder of the 2022-23 school year as a possible alternative to taking back any future scheduled vacation days. We will closely monitor the effectiveness of any Remote Snow Days to determine if using them in subsequent years makes sense.
Click here for more information regarding remote instruction along with expectations for both staff and students during these "remote snow days".
Educationally yours,
John Evans, Superintendent