The Herald - Everett, Wash. - www.HeraldNet.com

Published: Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Schools schedule makeup days

Nearly all of the districts in Island and Snohomish counties have plans to deal with

missed days.

By Eric Stevick

Herald Writer

It's a patch job that's bound to dampen some June plans.

Most school districts in Snohomish and Island counties have filled in holes in their calendars for days lost due to floods,

windstorms and snows in November, December and January.

Three school districts - Arlington, South Whidbey and Sultan - have shifted high school graduation dates.

Edmonds, Everett, Mukilteo, South Whidbey and Snohomish have extended school past the June 21 first day of summer.

Northshore could do the same when its school board meets tonight.

And three districts - Monroe, Snohomish and Oak Harbor - are still waiting for word from the state to find out if they won't have

to make up days lost to emergencies declared after floods or windstorms.

Snow days don't qualify for state waivers.

"Snow on the ground is irrelevant to any of this," said Thomas Shapley, a spokesman for the state Office of Superintendent of

Public Instruction.

Mukilteo, which has five more days to make up, will get out June 27.

"It's either that or coming to school on Saturdays," said Andy Muntz, a school district spokesman.

The Stanwood - Camano, Everett and Sultan school districts have received waivers from the state, meaning they don't have to

make up days lost from flooding or wind storms.

Sultan was granted two days, but still had to reschedule high school graduation from June 2 to June 9.

Sultan Superintendent Al Robinson said his district weighed the pros and cons of seeking the state waiver.

"We concluded that at that part of the year two days one way or another is not going to make a difference," Robinson said.

The Oak Harbor School District will apply for a waiver for a day lost to wind storms. If it doesn't get it, the district will have a

half day on Monday, June 18, as its last day and doesn't expect there would be great attendance.

The South Whidbey School District could have applied for waiver days because of lost power from windstorms, but opted

against it.

The district already had four days of waivers for teacher training, reducing the school year for students to 176 days. It

extended the school year to June 22.

The district didn't want to cut student instruction time by five more days and teachers could have lost days of pay, said South

Whidbey Superintendent Fred McCarthy.

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The Everett School District received one waiver day when high winds knocked out power in 10 of its schools.

With a last day of school rescheduled for June 22, Everett officials are hoping the weather stays calm for the rest of the year.

"We have our fingers crossed," said Mary Waggoner, a spokeswoman for the Everett School District.

The Daily Herald Co.

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