Hurricane Irma Makeup Days: Schools Still Making Decisions

LAND O’ LAKES, FL — As students across the Tampa Bay area ease back into their school routines following their impromptu, Hurricane Irma-related break, districts are still working to determine if makeup days will be needed.

Florida Education Commissioner Pam Stewart on Tuesday waived two days of the state’s required 180 annual instruction days to give schools across the state a little breathing room. Even so, most schools across the state, including those in the Tampa Bay area, were closed for more than two. Hillsborough and Pinellas county kids had seven days off thanks to Irma. Pasco students were given a six-day break from classes. (For more local news from Florida, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Land O’ Lakes Patch. Click here to find your local Florida Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

That means districts across the state are scrambling to figure out how to work the now-required 178 instructional days into their schedules.

Pasco County Schools spokeswoman Linda Cobbe said a final decision has not yet been made there. Even so, she said the district is trying to work out a plan that might not add extra days to the calendar.

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The district, Cobbe said, is working with a few schools to add student instructional time by shortening lunch periods and taking other measures. “But we don’t think we’re going to have makeup days,” Cobbe said. “The rest of the schools have enough time built in to their schedules to cover the missed time.”

Once a final decision has been made, Cobbe said parents, faculty and stall will be notified.

In Hillsborough County, the school district is in the process of surveying its employees to “get feedback from our teachers and staff on different options to make up the instructional time we our missing,” according to the district’s website.

“We are getting the results back from our internal survey today and should know more by the end of the week or early next week,” district spokeswoman Tanya Arja said Wednesday.

Pinellas County is also reviewing its options. “A final decision regarding makeup days will be made soon and communicated to all employees and families,” the district’s website said.

Meanwhile, children in Sarasota County found out Wednesday their extra 30 minutes of classes a day paid off for them.

Sarasota schools posted on its Facebook page: “Due to an extra 30 minutes added on to the day from referendum dollars here in Sarasota County, Superintendent Todd Bowden recommended to the School Board today with unanimous approval this hurricane makeup strategy: Zero makeup days.”

With reporting by Patch’s Don Johnson

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