HAMLET — Students in Richmond County will be back in their classrooms on Thursday — albeit a little later than normal.
Richmond County Schools announced on its Facebook page that there will be a two-hour delay on Feb. 5 “to allow all students and staff to travel during daylight hours.”
The district says that all buses will run their regular routes two hours later than normal and that students “should bring all completed remote work to turn in order to be counted present for remote days.”
Between the winter storm this past weekend that dumped 5-7 inches of snow across the region and left secondary roads hazardous, as well as the ice storm the previous weekend, students have had five remote learning days in the past two weeks.
According to state statute, that’s all they have available:
“A public school unit in a county that has received a good cause waiver…for the school year may use up to 15 remote instruction days or 90 remote instruction hours when schools are unable to open due to severe weather conditions, energy shortages, power failures, or other emergency situations and may use that time towards the required instructional days or hours for the school calendar. All other public school units may use up to five remote instruction days or 30 remote instruction hours when schools are unable to open due to severe weather conditions, energy shortages, power failures, or other emergency situations and may use that time towards the required instructional days or hours for the school calendar.”
Multiple media outlets have reported that superintendents across the state have petitioned legislators to increase the number of remote learning days.
