Inside the school calendar

Students across the state are getting less instruction than one might think. According to calendars from across the state, each county schedules five instructional support and enhancement days. These days are included in the overall 180 days, but buses don't run and students are not required to attend.

On these days, teachers are available for tutoring or conferences, and there are activities for students to do, but only for two hours in the morning. Faculty senates are held in the afternoon.

So, even if a county gets in 180 days, a student with perfect attendance who doesn't participate in the instructional support and enhancement days is only getting 175 days of instruction.

To put this in perspective, last year, Preston County only held 167 days of school. But with those instructional support days, a student with perfect attendance only sat in a classroom 162 days.