As a result of excess days missed by the Charlotte County Public School System (CCPS), make up instructional days have been announced by the division.

According to Charlotte County’s Assistant Superintendent Robbie Mason, “as of Dec. 14, our students had missed 13 days from schools. As a result of this loss of instructional time, we felt it necessary to create a plan for recapturing some of this critical time for students.”

He said Jan. 3-4 were originally set for teacher workdays, but have now been changed to regular, full instructional days for the students.

In addition, Mason said President’s Day, Feb. 18, and May 23-24 will also serve as full instructional days.

He said May 24 would be the last day of school and the Randolph- Henry High School graduation ceremony would remain scheduled for May 25.

“These changes to the instructional calendar will allow students to regain five instructional days,” said Mason. “Parents were notified of these changes through our school messenger system and letters were sent home with students on Monday, Dec. 17, detailing the calendar changes.”

Last January, CCPS also missed several school days due to the weather.

At that time, Superintendent of Charlotte County Schools Nancy Leonard said, “The Virginia Department of Education requires us to make up the first five days of missed school …”

According to Leonard last January, the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) requires divisions to make up one day for every two days missed after the first five days.

A previous memo from the Virginia Department of Education said school divisions are required to provide a minimum of 180 days or 990 hours for each school year.

“If the school division cannot meet the requirement for 180 days or 990 hours of instruction because of bad weather or other emergencies, days missed must be made up in accordance with the formula outlined in the Code (of Virginia), which requires that the school division must make up the first five days, and then make up one day for every two days missed in excess of the first five days missed by adding teaching days to the school calendar or extending the length of the school day,” said the memo.

Additionally, the memo said school divisions may use the additional time built into the calendar in excess of the 990 minimum.

Time may also be added to the remaining days to make up for missed days.