COLUMBUS, Ind. — Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. reached its fifth eLearning snow day of 2021, meaning that future snow days will be made up at the end of the school year.
In January, the school board approved Superintendent Jim Robert’s request for eLearning to be used for up to five snow days for the 2020-21 school year. The policy also pertained to “any other necessary cancellation of a school day” during this school year. After the first five days, any additional snow days will be made up at the end of the school year. Right now, the last day of school is scheduled for May 26, per BCSC’s online calendar.
The school board will use a similar model of snow day make-up for the next three school years as part of its approved 2021-24 calendar.
“We made the decision to cap the number of days at five, which is also the cap for the next three school years, due to the value we place on in-person instruction,” Roberts said. “By making the decision to utilize eLearning days, we have already saved ourselves from having to, yet, add days to the end of the school year.”
He said that prior to switching to eLearning snow days for makeup, the school corporation had three built-in make-up days still available during the first week of spring break. Therefore, if BCSC had continued with its original plan, there would already be two days added on to the end of the school year.
When asked earlier this week how eLearning snow days were going, Roberts said, “As they always do, our teachers are doing an outstanding job of making the best out of a tough situation. … Unfortunately, eLearning is not ideal and can never take the place of in-person instruction.”
For more on this story, see Saturday’s Republic.
