Wake County BOE stands its ground, sort of

This will not be the last post ever about the Wake County Board of Education but hopefully it will be the final on the issue of scheduling makeup days. The BOE Monday did the right thing, sticking to its guns by keeping three days of Spring Break on the calendar to cover for the days lost due to weather. It was “sort of” a strong statement in not kowtowing to the more than 7,000 people who signed an on-line petition against use of spring break days.

In doing so, the BOE also said that’s A-okay to miss those three days due to other plans. Seniors who are academically eligible to skip final exams as long as attendance meets specific requirements will not have those three days counted against them if the senior decides to skip school and hangout at the mall. Others who miss will be given ample opportunity to make up work missed for full credit. No word if that make-up time to make up work will be on Saturdays or Good Friday. Reporting attendance those three days will shed light on the protest power of the Spring Break crowd.

Teachers and staff will also get a reprieve from traditional rules but those details are not yet set. Principals have been told to deal with circumstances beyond the control of students and staff. It’s just a guess, but “deal” means to be lenient and understanding instead of zapping those who take advantage of the situation. Again, it’ll be interesting to look at attendance stats for teachers and staff for those three days.

The weather and BOE are responsible for this situation—the weather for causing the use of make-up days, and the BOE for making a farce of the make-up days—but BOE Chairman Christine Kushner decided to place blame elsewhere saying this problem wouldn’t be an issue if Wake County was allowed to set its own start and stop dates for traditional calendar schools. That, of course, is bull of the largest kind. She’s just trying to deflect the short-comings of the BOE. Flexibility of the calendar is not necessary to create a policy within the limits of the established calendar. This BOE doesn’t have the creativity to do it. (See yesterday’s post referring to a longtime solution to makeup days.)

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Last note: Hopefully, The News & Observer will send its headline writers to Spring Break makeup days to learn the simple rule of “i” and “e” which says to put “i” before “e” except after “c” which was obviously not followed in today’s newspaper.

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Dictionary.com word of the day

magniloquent (adjective) [mag-nil-uh-kwuh nt]: speaking or expressed in a lofty or grandiose style; pompous; bombastic; boastful