PORTLAND, Oregon — School districts in Oregon may be able to write off up to 14 hours of instructional time, or about two school days. The Oregon Department of Education (ODE) is considering allowing school districts impacted by recent winter storms to apply for a waiver.
Many schools around the Willamette Valley, the Gorge and the Portland metro area missed a week or more of class because of snow and ice earlier in mid-January.
Dr. Charlene Williams, the director of ODE, will work with the State Board of Education "to consider the implementation of a temporary rule, which aims to enable any district affected by the recent storm to apply for a waiver of no more than 14 hours due to the impacts of this latest storm," said Marc Siegel with ODE.
School districts would need to submit a written request, which would be approved as long as it meets the requirements, Siegel said.
Portland Public Schools (PPS) faces a particularly challenging situation. The storms caused heavy damage to PPS' Markham Elementary School and Robert Gray Middle School. Hundreds of students were delayed in returning to class as the schools undergo repairs. Before the storms, PPS had to make up 11 missed school days because of a teacher's strike in the fall that kept students out of classrooms. That led to PPS cutting winter break in half, which recouped five days. PPS was left with six make-up days, but then the storms canceled another four days of class. If ODE's temporary rule is implemented and PPS requests a waiver that is approved, the school district would still have eight days to make up.
State law requires Kindergarten through eighth grade students to be in class for at least 900 hours, while ninth through 11th grade is 990 hours, and 12th grade is 966 hours. Anything below those numbers requires a waiver and a plan to fix the situation next school year. PPS hasn't released information about how it plans to make up the missed school days.
ODE's temporary rule isn't currently in effect, but it will be considered during the next State Board of Education meeting on Feb. 15.