After receiving over a week of school off due to winter weather in Central Kentucky, Fayette County Public Schools are back in session this week. School had previously been in session on Friday, January 12th, yet holidays and winter weather led to NTI learning and snow days up until Tuesday, the 23rd.
Originally, in person school was set to return on the Tuesday following Martin Luther King day. However a winter storm bringing snow and temperatures close to zero came Sunday night and led to school cancellations until Thursday later that week.
Just when many thought in person schooling was set to resume, another winter storm hit Central Kentucky on Thursday night, bringing six to eight inches of snow and school cancellations throughout the rest of the week into the following Monday.
Many were upset regarding Monday the 22nd’s school cancellation as they believed roads were clear enough to resume school. Issues regarding the district’s communication with snow shovelers led to Monday’s cancellation, upsetting many parents around the city.
After last winter’s large wind storm, Fayette County has developed a system for Non-Traditional Learning this year in case of future school cancellations. In case of cancellations due to weather this week, Fayette County has provided a plan for schools to continue allowing teaching online, through assignments and optional zoom sessions.
Other rules apply to the NTI system that say no new curriculum can be taught during NTI days, and that students are allowed an additional three days to finish assignments that were given on an NTI workday.
With school resuming earlier this week, students were given up until Friday the 26th to complete all their NTI assignments, many of which counted for students’ attendance on last week’s NTI days.
It is interesting to speculate whether the district will become more lenient in giving out inclement weather days with the new NTI learning system, and how parents and students will react to the potential increase in online learning.
