Haywood County Schools established the end-of-year schedule at the April 1st regular Board of Education meeting.  The last student day will be Tuesday, June 4th.  The ten-month employee contract calendar remains unchanged and will end on June 11th.

In 2012, Senate Bill 187 was passed regarding public school calendars.  Beginning with the 2013-14 school year, the law requires a minimum of 185 days or 1,025 hours of instruction.  Haywood County Schools and most school systems across the state continued operating with approximately 180 student instructional days while also tracking time to assure a minimum of 1,025 instructional hours.

For the 2017-18 school year, the Board of Education waived one student instructional day for every school and one additional day for Riverbend Elementary School in order to establish the best possible schedule for state required end-of-year testing.  When the 2018-19 calendar was approved by the Board of Education, the Superintendent was authorized to waive up to four student instructional days, as long as the instructional time is over 1,025 hours.  Superintendent Nolte waived two student instructional days at the end of the current 2018-19 year to establish a beneficial assessment schedule for students.

Superintendent Nolte said, “We have learned more about the benefits of the hourly calendar over time.  Hours are more accurate than days since days can range from six to one or two hours depending on delays and early releases.  Students seem to demonstrate their learning better based upon the timing of state required assessments.  Making small adjustments to the calendar can be very beneficial to teaching and learning while maintaining a significant amount of overall instructional time.”

Other important end-of-year dates include:

May 7-9 – HCS Art Show, 3:30 p.m. until 7:00 p.m., Hazelwood Conference Center

May 9 – Haywood Early College Graduation, 6:30 p.m., HCC Auditorium

May 10 – Special Olympics, 9:30 a.m., Waynesville Recreation Center

June 7 – Pisgah High School Graduation, 7:00 p.m., WCU Ramsey Center

June 8 – Tuscola High School Graduation, 11:00 a.m., WCU Ramsey Center

June 8 – Central Haywood High School Graduation, 3:00 p.m., HCC Auditorium

June 11 – Haywood Community Learning Center Graduation, 6:30 p.m., HCC Auditorium

 

 

Contact:  Dr. Bill Nolte, Superintendent