Three of the snow make-up days waived by the state

Renton schools posted on Tuesday that the three snow make-up days previously unscheduled are waived for students. Staff will still need to determine how to add those days.

By Haley Ausbun • March 20, 2019 1:30 am

The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction has waived three of the five make-up snow days for Renton School District. The three days were not yet scheduled for students.

The district will still be using scheduled snow make-up day Tuesday, May 28 and add one day to the end of the year, Friday, June 21. According to the school district, Thursday, June 20 will be a full day and Friday, June 21 will be a half day.

The waiver is for students only, and the school district will need to work with union partners to decide how they will schedule three staff make-up days.

According to the OSPI website, “there is no legal authority to waive the mandatory average of 1,027 hours of instruction for students.”

This means school districts are still required to meet instructional hour offerings, despite a state of emergency and student’s days being waived.

Gov. Jay Inslee’s declared state of emergency during the snow storm opened up the possibility for waivers for snow days. State Superintendent Chris Reykdal announced this possibility in a news release on Feb. 12., as the storm was underway.

The snow days cannot be made up during spring break, because breaks are bargained in contract negotiations with staff unions, according to the district.

High school graduation ceremonies will remain on schedule, according to the school district’s previous post on snow make-up days.