There is a chance of inclement weather early next week. Any missed days next week (February 15-19) may be designated as Remote Learning Optional Workdays. Please prepare for this possibility and notify students and parents as appropriate.

The NC General Assembly required all school systems to add five Remote Learning Optional Workdays into the student calendar at the beginning of the year. Haywood County Schools and other school systems with frequent inclement weather are authorized to add five more Remote Learning Optional workdays (with a maximum of 10) to address closures due to weather. Using Remote Learning Optional Workdays allows us to count learning time and avoid extending the school year for students.

To date, Haywood County Schools has experienced 13 days that were closed for in-person learning. Five days were missed due to a ransomware attack. One day was missed for flooding in association with Tropical Storm Zeta. One day was missed due to an off-campus fire that interrupted Internet, telephone and other services. Six days were missed due to inclement winter weather. Our average number of missed days is nine. We thank everyone for their patience and understanding as we navigate this most unusual school year.

Here’s the good news, despite all the missed days, the last student day is currently Thursday, June 3rd. This is remarkable considering we have missed 13 days. If winter weather continues it might be necessary to extend student days into the week of June 7th in order to assure we achieve the instructional hours required by the state.

Again, there is a chance of inclement weather early next week. Any missed days next week (February 15-19) may be designated as Remote Learning Optional Workdays. Please prepare for this possibility and notify students and parents as appropriate. By kind, be smart, be safe and think warm weather.

Contact: Dr. Bill Nolte, Superintendent