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With icy roads and frigid temperatures lingering in much of Tennessee, many districts in the state have blown through their allotted inclement weather days with months left in the school year.
The extreme winter weather forced districts from Memphis to Nashville to close their doors this week.
In Memphis, stubborn ice has complicated travel on local roads. There are widespread power outages in Nashville, with more than a dozen school buildings still without power as of Friday. Many students in the Middle Tennessee region are also still without power and internet access, school officials say.
But exactly how many snow days do Tennessee schools get? And what happens if they run out before roads are accessible and power is restored?
The answer is a little complicated.
Tennessee law requires schools to have 6.5-hour school days for 180 days per school year. Schools usually have seven-hour school days, which allows districts to stockpile up to 13 extra days.
Districts use those stockpile days differently and build them into their calendars at the beginning of the school year, often allocating some days for professional development and reserving some for inclement weather.
Memphis-Shelby County Schools, for example, had eight days set aside this year. With the January winter storm week, it is now down to three. Rutherford County Schools, which have also been closed all week, allocated nine weather days and is now down to four, though the district has an upcoming staff development day it can use if needed.
“This is my 22nd year with the school district, and during that time, we have never used all of our inclement weather days,” RCS Chief Communications Officer James Evans said. “One year we used all of them, but we did not go over.”
In the more rural Cheatham County northwest of Nashville, a Cheatham County School District spokesperson said the district has one stockpile day remaining and it had not yet made a call on reopening schools as of Friday, Jan. 30.
Schools can use four days of hybrid instruction per year and up to five days of remote instruction per semester due to severe weather if they run out of stockpile days, a Tennessee Department of Education spokesperson said. But those options aren’t feasible during the widespread weather impacts many in Tennessee are facing this month.
“Many students throughout Cheatham County as of Friday, January 30 are still without electricity and internet,” said Tim Adkins, communications director for the Cheatham County School District.
Metro Nashville schools had six weather days this school year, and the district has now used all of them. It’s not yet clear if schools will reopen on Feb. 2, as tens of thousands of households in the area are still without power.
Districts are able to tack on make-up school days at the end of the school year if they run over on their stockpile days.
But school districts could now be eligible for a special waiver granted by the Tennessee Department of Education in the event of a natural disaster. This would relieve districts of the 180-day instructional requirement under Tennessee law.
Previous TDOE guidance states waivers would only be granted as a “last resort in extreme circumstances,” though Gov. Bill Lee has declared a state of emergency due to the severe winter weather impacts.
MNPS spokesperson Sean Braisted said the district is consulting with TDOE about its waiver options “as remote learning options are not viable at this time due to extensive power outages throughout the city.” But as of Friday, MNPS had not yet requested a waiver.
The Tennessee Department of Education has not yet granted any waivers in the state due to the winter weather, a spokesperson said.
Melissa Brown is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact Melissa at mbrown@chalkbeat.org.
