This semester has had a very interesting chain of weather patterns. After returning from Christmas break, there were many warm enjoyable afternoons, and students were starting to wonder if they would see any precipitation of snow. As the days ticked closer to spring break, teachers began to also become hopeful for snow. In some cases teachers were setting out little signs and trinkets on their desks, with sayings like “Let it Snow.”

As winter progressed, the Pittsylvania county school district has experienced three severe snow storms, getting as much as eight inches of snow in the northern part of the county. Students are not just missing one day, or coming to school at a delayed time, but students have missed almost two weeks of classes. This has some students concerned about their grades in various classes, since the six week grading periods are being cut short.

Many teachers are even more stressed out. The teachers are not able to cover what the students need to learn for upcoming SOL’s. They do not know where to start when their pacing guides indicate that they are so far behind. Mr. Thaxton says, “I’m pushed for time, we are going over two lessons a day to get caught up.” He also fears that once all the information has been taught, the students will immediately have to take the SOL. There is no time to remediate on previous topics, because the SOL’s are being moved to earlier dates.

This year the school system has added an extra fifteen minutes to each day, to compensate for snow days missed.  Mrs. Ayusso teaches class all the way up until the dismissal bell rings, and  believes that it works out well for students and teachers. Teachers are able to fit a little bit more instruction time into the day, while students are not being asked to do anything too extreme like attend school on Saturdays. Saturday classes have been tried in the past, but the attendance was considered to low to qualify for federal aid.