WUSD governing board addresses options for making up extra snow days

WILLIAMS, Ariz. — The Williams Unified School District (WUSD) governing board met for their regular meeting March 8. Among other things on the agenda, the board discussed options for resolving the issue of eight additional missed snow days.

At the beginning of the school year, WUSD calendared 147 instructional days, three of which were added as cushion for possible snow days. Now, with the 11 snow days missed, the district would end the school year with only 136 days of instruction.

Superintendent Eric Evans spoke at the meeting, presenting suggestions offered by the WUSD attorney.

Various solutions were proposed, such as extending the school year beyond Memorial Day weekend, or implementing the Instructional Time Model (ITM) to enable remote learning on Fridays. Developed during the pandemic, the ITM allows students to fulfill their school days from home.

Should the board opt for the ITM approach, the district would need to distribute devices to K-8 students to facilitate this method. Devices are already available to students in grades 9-12.

“What we want to do is minimize the impact on our students, staff, parents and community. This is not a fun place to be, there’s no victories here. These are tough decisions to be made about what to do,” Evans said. “Our attorney’s legal advice and preference is to start gearing up and getting ready for remote learning to make up some days.”

If the board decides to implement Friday remote learning, they may also authorize the superintendent to exempt students who choose not to complete the makeup work.

In addition to considering makeup options, the board is also evaluating the potential funding implications of not making up the additional eight days.

The governing board will continue to deliberate the options on this matter at the March 22 meeting.