Alabama School Superintendent OKs Shorter Year After April 27 tornadoes (AL)

May 12, 2011

MONTGOMERY, Alabama — State school Superintendent Joe Morton on Wednesday said he has approved shortening the school year for 44 public school systems, so they don’t have to make up days lost because of school damage, power outages or other results of the April 27 tornadoes. City or county school leaders requested each reduction in school days.

Morton approved requests to shorten the school year by:

Two days for the Birmingham city system, where many schools had power outages, except that students and employees of South Hampton Elementary will have their school year shortened by three days because power was out longer there, said school spokeswoman Michaelle Chapman.

Three days for the Jefferson County school system. Superintendent Phil Hammonds said most schools were without power at some point after the storms hit.

“We still have a number of families of students and employees who are trying to put their lives back together from the devastation that hit,” Hammonds said. Rather than schedule make-up days in June, when attendance likely would be lower, he said, “We felt it best for everybody here that we be granted some relief.”

At least six days for the Walker County system, with students and employees of schools in hard-hit Cordova and Sipsey having their school year shortened by nine days, said Superintendent Jason Adkins.

He said downed trees blocked travel to schools in many areas, and that schools were without power many d ays. Noting the damage in lives lost and homes destroyed, Adkins added, “It doesn’t take an expert to decipher the fact that people are hurting and they need some time to recover.”

Normally for public schools, state law requires at least 180 instructional days for students per academic year, and requires support workers such as secretaries to work at least 182 days and certified staff such as teachers to work at least 187 days per year.

But a state law approved by the Legislature and signed into effect by Gov. Robert Bentley last week lets local school officials ask Morton to shorten those instructional-day and work-day requirements for school systems affected by a state of emergency declared by the governor, such as the emergency he declared April 27. The law says public school employees will not lose any income because of such a shortened school year.

As of late afternoon Wednesday, leaders of 21 county school systems and 23 city systems had asked Morton to shorten the school year by at least one day for students and school employees alike because of the tornadoes, and Morton said he approved all their requests.

“This is so massive and so widespread, it certainly would fit the description of a state of emergency,” he said.

Loss of power to schools has been the main reason for missed school days, Morton said, but students at seven schools missed days because their schools suffered “catastrophic” damage: Two in the Tuscaloosa city system, two in the Marion County system and one each in the Tuscaloosa, Franklin and DeKalb county systems.

Morton said making up instruction days might have made sense if the disaster had happened early in the school year. But extending the school year well into June “just didn’t make a lot of sense,” he said, in part because seniors “need to graduate,” many students have plans for summer jobs and many student s need to help their families or friends rebuild.

He added that teachers and students alike who have lost homes or suffered other losses could have a hard time concentrating on academics. “There are just a lot of extenuating circumstances,” he said.

For some systems, Morton approved shortening the school year more for some schools than others. Morton’s office said that as of late Wednesday afternoon, he had approved cutting the school year by:

At least one day for the Franklin and Lauderdale county systems and the Anniston, Bessemer, Gadsden, Jacksonville, Leeds, Tarrant and Winfield city systems.

At least two days for the Calhoun, Elmore and Etowah county systems and the Attalla, Birmingham and Fort Payne systems.

At least three days for the Fayette, Jefferson, Lamar, Marion, St. Clair and Winston county systems and the Albertville, Arab, Boaz, Decatur, Haleyville, Hartselle, Jasper and Pell City systems.

Four or more days for the Cherokee, DeKalb, Jackson, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Marshall, Morgan, Tuscaloosa and Walker county systems and the Guntersville, Huntsville, Madison, Scottsboro and Tuscaloosa city systems.