The cold and snowy weather that closed Flat Rock-Hawcreek schools will now have an impact on schedules this month.
FRHC schools have a system in place for inclement weather. The first two instances of bad weather result in full snow days. In case of these snow days, students have built-in make-up days later on in the school year to replace the missed leaning time.
This Monday, President’s Day, is one of those built-in make-up days. When students would originally have a long weekend the third week of February, the students instead must attend class Monday to make up for their lost time back on Dec. 2.
Again on Friday, April 3, where FRHC students would have enjoyed Good Friday with their families, they must return to the classroom to make up for missing class back on Dec. 15.
But this most recent snowstorm that blocked the roads for days did not result in any added classroom time for students.
FEHC allows for two snow days and following make-up days before turning to eLearning as a replacement for in-class learning. Students completed virtual classwork via Microsoft Teams/Zoom. Should any other rough weather days come in 2026, eLearning days will be the solution.
In 2022, the state of Indiana passed a law regarding eLearning days. “Asynchronous” learning means that the students have assignments to do throughout the day on their own and “Synchronous” means the students are led by teachers in Zoom or otherwise.
Indiana state law only allows for three asynchronous leaning days in one school year. The rest must be synchronous learning. FRHC used all three asynchronous learning days in the January snowstorm.
“During asynchronous eLearning days, students will not be required to participate in live video meetings such as Zoom or Microsoft Teams. Instead, students will log into their designated platform to complete schoolwork for each of their classes,” said Hope Elementary Principal Kyle Wheeler in a statement on social media.
Teachers track attendance for these eLearning days by recording the completion of assignments.
