WS/FCS will be lenient with absences as students adjust to new calendar

The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education recently approved an academic calendar for next year that has school starting two weeks early.

Now the district says it will be lenient on absences as families adjust. 

The calendar change was intended to benefit students. By starting school two weeks earlier, they’ll be able to take their final exams before going on winter break, rather than after. 

But it also means cutting this summer two weeks short. Some parents and board members expressed concerns about family vacations or camps that may have already been booked that now conflict with the new schedule. 

At a meeting on Tuesday, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools Superintendent Tricia McManus said the district is taking those concerns into account.

“We're gonna say if a family has a camp that they've paid for, and that their kids are excited about, do the camp," McManus said. "I mean, there are some things that are like once in a lifetime, if they can't reschedule it.”

She says students won’t start accumulating absences until after they’ve come to school for the first time. So if a student is out the first week for a camp, that won’t count against them this year.

Still, parents should communicate their plans with the schools, so accommodations can be made. That might mean letting students make up work, or holding a small assembly to go over whatever information they missed.

The district will work to find similar solutions for teachers and staff with scheduling conflicts as well. 

“At the end of the day, this is going to be, in this first year, like a customized, individual approach with both families and teachers to make sure that everybody is taken care of through this transition," McManus said.

School starts on August 12 and ends on May 20.

Amy Diaz covers education for WFDD in partnership with Report For America. You can follow her on Twitter at @amydiaze.