Hurricane Ian causes only minor shift to School District of Manatee County schedule

Students in the School District of Manatee County won't have to make up all five days they missed due to Hurricane Ian.

Cynthia Saunders, the superintendent of the School District of Manatee County, said as a result of the 30 minutes added to each school day after voters passed the 1-mill property tax referendum in 2021, students will not need to make up all the instructional time lost during the hurricane and its aftermath. 

By the end of the semester, elementary and middle school students already would have made up the time due to the 30 additional minutes, but administrators felt a change in the schedule was needed for high school students.

The School Board of Manatee County approved making Dec. 20-22 full days for high school students rather than the previously scheduled half days.  

High school students need to have 67.5 hours of instructional time in a semester in order to receive a half course credit from the state. For a full course credit, students must complete 135 hours in a year. 

This semester, high school students would have had 73 to 75 instructional hours per half credit if the school year went as planned, so those students already had some cushion built into the schedule. 

After the district closed for five days, Kevin Chapman, the chief of staff for the School District of Manatee County, said technically the high school students didn't need to make up that lost time, but they wanted to maintain the cushion built into the schedule.

“We’re right at the bare bones of the requirement right now,” Saunders said.

Saunders said some districts are adding time to the length of each school day to make up the time.

With the change, the high school students will have 71 to 74 instructional hours by the start of winter break.

“We’re very fortunate,” Saunders said. “If not (for the 30-minutes of additional time), then we would have to be making up five school days most likely, and our original calendar had them placed at Thanksgiving break and winter break.”

Hurricane make-up days are built into the calendar each year as a precaution. This year, the make-up days are scheduled for Nov. 21-23. 

“Families, as well as employees, might have had to change their plans (for Thanksgiving or winter break),” Saunders said. “Knowing we don’t have to disrupt or require that really was just a blessing. I felt fortunate we were in a situation where we were able to comply with the statutory requirements and do it in the least disruptive manner.”

Carl Auckerman, the principal of Braden River High School, and Dustin Dahlquist, the principal of Lakewood Ranch High School both said although the final exam schedules for the end of the semester haven't been finalized yet, exams will continue to take place Dec. 20-22.