Beaufort County Schools will make up missed days week before Christmas

Correction: The Beaufort County Board of Education will make the final decision on school makeup days at its next meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 1, spokesman Jim Foster said on Thursday. He said that detail was mistakenly omitted from Wednesday’s news release on the schedule change.

Beaufort County Schools have scheduled makeup days for Hurricane Matthew for the third week of December, the first week of winter break, district spokesman Jim Foster said Wednesday.

The first day of break was scheduled to be Saturday, Dec. 17.

Instead, students will have a half day on Dec. 22 and start winter break Friday, Dec. 23.

The district also lost one school day last month during Tropical Storm Hermine. Students will return a day early from winter break — on Wednesday, Jan. 4 — to make up that day.

The district lost eight instructional days — Oct. 5 to Friday — after Gov. Nikki Haley ordered coastal counties to evacuate ahead of the storm. South Carolina laws covering minimum instructional time required the district to restore most of those days. After discussions Tuesday night with the Beaufort County school board — which approved a waiver for three days — and Wednesday morning with principals, Superintendent Jeff Moss settled on the adjusted schedule.

The school board will make the final decision on the adjusted calendar at its next meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 1, Foster said Thursday.

The district will ask the State Board of Education to waive the eighth day.

“We understand that these schedule changes may be an inconvenience during winter break,” Moss said. “But we must adhere to state law, and our primary concern is the education of the 22,000 children entrusted to our care.”

This story was originally published October 19, 2016 at 4:19 PM with the headline "Beaufort County Schools will make up missed days week before Christmas."