Virginia Beach, Va. - Tons of backlash – that’s what prompted Virginia Beach School Board member Joel McDonald to draft a resolution to Dr. Magula’s decision to make up snow days on Saturdays.
“This sort of stems from many emails and phone calls and conversations that I've had with parents and students and teachers who are very concerned about how disruptive this Saturday make up schedule is for them,” McDonald says.
McDonald wants the superintendent to waive the last two Saturday school make ups and one Friday. He wants to use the three days built into the year.
He says now that they’ve had one make up day, they’re at the 180 day state minimum, and going three extra days isn’t necessary, given the circumstances.
“I think having an extended school calendar is great but I think when you try to preserve that school calendar and that leads to Saturday make ups and disruptions that are caused by that. I think we have to step back and wonder if that's something we should actually be doing,” he says.
He also wants to discuss changing next year’s calendar and snow day make up options.
“If we can say it’s great to have a 183 day calendar and if we have no school closures then 183 days is great. But if we do have some closures, we need to take a look at those three additional days in a more flexible way when we’re deciding make ups,” he says.
But he adds, Dr. Magula was just following the calendar and policies the school board designed.
“A lot of people want to point fingers to her who are not happy with this decision and the reality is she is following our instructions,” he says.
So NewsChannel 3 went to her office on Monday to see if she would talk to us about how Saturday went and what she thinks of McDonald’s plan… but the front desk refused.
Virginia Beach City Public Schools have released the attendance numbers from the first Saturday make-up snow day.
Approximately 78 percent of students were in attendance on Saturday compared to about 97 percent on Friday.
Related:
Virginia Beach Schools to have make-up snow days on Saturdays
Numbers show 78% of students attended Saturday make up day at Virginia Beach schools
