And the state code says ...

Here are excerpts from West Virginia State Code 18-5-45 regarding school calendars:

• "The school calendar traditionally has provided for one hundred eighty actual days of instruction but numerous circumstances have combined to cause the actual number of instructional days to be less than one hundred eighty."
• "Within reasonable guidelines, the school calendar should be designed at least to guarantee that one hundred eighty actual days of instruction are possible."
• "An employment term for teachers of no less than two hundred days, exclusive of Saturdays and Sundays; and within the employment term, an instructional term for students of no less than one hundred eighty separate instructional days."
• "Noninstructional days shall total twenty and shall be comprised of the following: Seven holidays ... Election day ... Six days to be designated by the county board to be used for employees outside the school environment, and Six days designated by the county board for any of the following purposes: Curriculum development, Preparation for opening and closing school, Professional development, Teacher-pupil-parent conferences, Making up days when instruction was scheduled but not conducted."
• "If, on or after the first day of March, the county board determines that it is not possible to complete one hundred eighty separate days of instruction, the county board shall schedule instruction on any available noninstructional day, regardless of the purpose for which the day originally was scheduled, and the day will be used for instruction ..."