west virginia - school calendar

WEST VIRGINIA

SCHOOL CALENDAR

GUIDANCE BOOKLET

West Virginia Board of education

2016-2017

Michael I. Green, President

Lloyd G. Jackson II, Vice President

Beverly E. Kingery, Secretary

Thomas W. Campbell, Member

Tina H. Combs, Member

F. Scott Rotruck, Member

William M. White, Member

James S. Wilson, Member

Paul L. Hill, Ex Officio

Chancellor

West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission

Sarah Armstrong Tucker, Ex Officio

Chancellor

West Virginia Council for Community and Technical College Education

Michael J. Martirano, Ex Officio

State Superintendent of Schools

West Virginia Department of Education

Table of Contents

Guidance for Preparing the School Calendar .......................................................................................... 2

Guidance for Developing a Local Board Policy ..................................................................................... 10

Checklist for School Calendar ................................................................................................................ 12

Sample Traditional School Calendar ...................................................................................................... 13

Sample Balanced School Calendar ....................................................................................................... 14

Guidance for WVBE Policy 3234, Section 11 ......................................................................................... 15

GUIDANCE FOR PREPARING THE SCHOOL CALENDAR

FOR THE 2017-18 SCHOOL YEAR

1. General: Pursuant to the provisions of West Virginia Code and State Board Policy 3234, each

county board is required to prepare a school calendar for the upcoming year and submit it to the

State Superintendent of Schools for approval. The proposed calendar is to be submitted to the

Division of Teaching and Learning for review. In addition, a calendar must be submitted for any

school(s) in the district operating on a calendar different from the district calendar, with the name

of the school(s) speciﬁed on the form.

School boards have the authority to make revisions to their approved school calendars

throughout the school year, but since the original calendars require the approval of the State

Superintendent before adoption, any changes affecting the rescheduling of dates also require

prior approval. This requirement applies only to a change in scheduled dates; it does not apply

to the use of non-instructional days to make-up canceled instructional days when the non-

instructional days are not being moved.

2. Forms: A copy of the newly automated 2017-2018 school calendar form (WVDE 11-20-35) and

several completed sample calendars are attached with these instructions as Excel spreadsheets

for use in completing the proposed calendar for the upcoming year. In addition, for your

convenience, the instructions and forms are also available on the Department’s website:

http://wvde.state.wv.us/calendar/blank-form.html.

3. Sample Calendars: Several sample calendars are provided to illustrate some of the options

county boards have in developing their school calendars under the provisions adopted in Senate

Bill 359, but none of the options should be considered as recommendations of the Department

of Education. Included are sample calendars that illustrate options for a traditional calendar, one

where the ﬁrst semester ends prior to the Christmas break, and a balanced calendar. We are

also including a traditional calendar to assist you as your complete the calendar form (WVDE 11-

20-35).

4. Balanced Calendar: To reduce the amount of learning loss that occurs during the long

summer break in a traditional calendar, county boards may want to consider and actively explore

the feasibility of adopting a school calendar that minimizes such learning loss. An advantage of

a balanced calendar with breaks scheduled between each nine-week period is that intersessions

can be scheduled during breaks for the students that need extended learning opportunities.

Be aware, however, that according to WVC §18-5-45, the beginning and ending dates of the

employment term cannot exceed 48 weeks. Information developed by the WVDE regarding

the advantages of adopting a ﬂexible or balanced calendar can be downloaded from the

Department’s website at the following link: https://sites.google.com/a/wvde.k12.wv.us/balanced-

calendar-documents/.

5. Statutory References: WVC §18-1-2 deﬁnes the school year as starting on the ﬁrst day of

July and ending on the 30th day of June; WVC §18-5-45 contains the statutory requirements

regarding the school calendar; WVC §18-5A-5 contains the requirements for faculty senate

meetings; WVC §18-9B-7 speciﬁes that county boards must budget sufﬁcient funds to assure

that the speciﬁed minimum employment and instructional terms are provided; WVC §18A-4-8

speciﬁes the structure of the minimum 200 day employment term for service personnel; and WVC

§18A-5-2 identiﬁes the ofﬁcial school holidays.

6. Due Date: The due date for submitting the school calendar for the 2017-18 year to the

Department of Education, Division of Teaching and Learning, is Friday, May 5, 2017. All

calendars will be reviewed within two weeks of receipt and approval notices provided individually

as soon as possible after review so that school districts will be able to notify their staffs and

parents so that they can plan accordingly.

To expedite the submittal and review process, and to enable this ofﬁce to place each district’s

approved calendar on the Department’s website, the completed calendar form MUST be

submitted to this ofﬁce as an Excel spreadsheet. This year the WVDE will provide an automated

Excel sheet to use for your convenience. Guidance for the use of the new calendar tool is

provided at the Calendar of Events website.

7. Submission: Please submit the completed Excel forms attached to an email to Teresa

Hammond at [email protected].us

Signed copies of the forms do not need to be mailed. The Excel ﬁle must be

submitted no later than Friday, May 5, 2017. Each calendar will be reviewed and approved

as quickly as possible after this due date. If there are any questions, please do not hesitate to

contact the Division of Teaching and Learning at 304-558-9994.

8. Scheduled Test Dates: The proposed test windows for West Virginia General Summative

Assessment and all other state-wide assessments once established can be viewed on the

WVDE’s website. WVC §18-5-45 states that the State Board may not schedule the primary

statewide assessment program more than thirty (30) days prior to the end of the instructional

year, unless the state board determines that the nature of the test mandates an earlier testing

date. The 30 day maximum is to be determined from the last scheduled instructional day of the

original school calendar as submitted to the State Board for approval.

County boards that are required to cancel instructional days during the 2017-2018 school

year due to inclement weather, however, may be able to revise their testing window in order to

maximize the number of instructional days provided prior to the test; to make arrangements for

this, contact the Ofﬁce of Assessment and Research at 304-558-2546.

9. Public Hearings: County boards are required to hold at least two (2) public hearings that

allow all interested parties to discuss the school calendar, but boards may hold more than two

public hearings, if they desire. Public notices of the hearings must be published as a Class II

legal advertisement, which according to WVC §59-3-2, means that the legal advertisement must

be published once a week for two successive weeks in a qualiﬁed newspaper published in

the publication area. Notices for all hearings can be published in one advertisement. The ﬁrst

notice must be published at least 10 days prior to the ﬁrst hearing to provide sufﬁcient time for

interested parties to plan on attending the hearing.

At least a quorum of the county board members must be present during each public hearing.

Each hearing should be scheduled to last a reasonable amount of time, but for convenience,

should not be scheduled to begin before 9:00 a.m., nor continue beyond 11:00 p.m.

In the interest of time and efﬁciency, oral statements may be limited in duration to a period of not

less than three minutes each and may be supplemented with written comments, timely submitted,

in accordance with the deadlines included in the notice.

10. Graduation Dates: County boards are required to provide a list of the graduation dates for

every high school in the county for the 2017-2018 school year at the same time that the calendar

is submitted. Page 2 of the newly automated Excel worksheet is provided for this purpose.

According to various state superintendents’ opinions, county boards may not hold graduation

ceremonies and release seniors earlier than ﬁve instructional days prior to the end of the regularly

scheduled instructional term for all students. This is to be determined from the last scheduled

instructional day of the original calendar as submitted to the State Board for approval.

11. Symbols: The following symbols are to be used in completing the school calendar form:

Instructional Days - For each of the 180 instructional days, list the date in the bottom portion

of each cell on the School Calendar (Form WVDE 11-20-35); do not enter a symbol in the top

portion of the cell. A pull-down menu to the right in the top portion of the cell in the automated

spreadsheet will place the correct symbol and color the cell when it is clicked by the user.

Non-instructional Days - For the 20 non-instructional days, use the pull down menu in the

top portion of the cell in the school calendar on which each of the non-instructional days is

scheduled:

CD Curriculum Development

P Preparation for Opening/Closing Schools

C Continuing Professional Development

TP Teachers-Pupil-Parent Conference

OS Outside School Environment

SE Special or Bond Levy Election

E Primary or General Election

H Holiday

PM Professional Meeting

MU Make-Up Day

FS Faculty Senate



Note: For consistency among all county boards, use ONLY the symbols listed

above located in the pull-down menu.

12. Out-of-Calendar Days (O): County boards may now schedule up to a maximum of forty (40)

out-of-calendar days during the school year and remain within the forty-eight (48) week maximum

limit for scheduling the minimum 200-day employment term.

County boards that adopt a balanced calendar are required to list all 61 out-of-calendar (O) days

on the calendar form to make it easy for users to see when the breaks and the intersessions are

scheduled.

13. Instructional Term: According to WVC §18-5-45, each county board must provide, within

the employment term, an instructional term for students of no less than 180 separate instructional

days. County boards of education are required to provide, not just schedule, 180 separate days

of instruction.

An instructional day is deﬁned as a day which meets the following criteria:

• Instruction is offered to students for at least the minimum amount of time provided by State

Board Policy 2525 for prekindergarten and Policy 2510 for kindergarten through grade

twelve.

• Instructional time is used for instruction and co-curricular activities.

• The instruction provided meets the currently adopted West Virginia Standards prescribed

by the West Virginia State Board.

WVC §18-5-45 speciﬁes that if it is determined that a county board cannot complete 180 days of

instruction with the current school calendar, the county board must schedule instruction on any

available non-instructional day or use an out-of-calendar day.

Note that county boards have the authority to provide for more than one hundred eighty (180)

separate days of instruction, but must extend the employment term the same number of days

that the instructional term is extended, since WVC §18-5-45 requires that the minimum 200 day

employment term include twenty non-instructional days. The employment term may also be

extended to provide additional days for professional development. One way for a county board

to obtain the necessary funding to increase the employment term is to include this provision in an

excess levy call.

14. Recovery of Lost Instructional Time: County boards must adopt a policy that requires

additional minutes of instruction be added to each instructional day, or that entire additional

instructional days be added, to recover time lost due to late arrivals and early dismissals caused

by inclement weather, the closing of schools as a result of the prevalence of contagious disease,

conditions of weather or any other calamitous cause over which the board has no control.

• County boards, however, will not be required to speciﬁcally add additional minutes to

the instructional day if all schools have accumulated sufﬁcient accrued instructional

time through their regular schedules that can be used to make-up the missed time. The

determination of the available minutes should take into consideration any accrued

instructional minutes utilized for faculty senate meetings or professional development.

• In addition, counties are reminded to take school closures, early dismissals and late arrivals

into consideration when determining the amount of accrued instructional time that has been

accrued.

15. Waiver Requests: According to WVC §18-5-45(o), the State Board may grant a waiver to a

county board for its noncompliance with provisions of chapter eighteen, eighteen-a, eighteen-b

and eighteen-c of the Code of West Virginia to maintain compliance in reaching the mandatory

one hundred eighty (180) separate instructional days. Such waiver requests must be submitted

using the calendar waiver request form developed for this purpose. Copies of the form can be

found on the WVDE website at the following link: http://wvde.state.wv.us/policies/.

16. Canceled Instructional Days: All canceled instructional days must be rescheduled using

either available non-instructional days (other than the seven holidays or the Election Day) or out-

of-calendar days (except for Saturdays or Sundays).

As a result of the requirements of WVC §18-5-45 as amended, county board employees are

required to report to work providing services to students for 180 separate days of instruction.

Whenever a board is required to cancel a scheduled instructional day, for whatever reason, the

day must be rescheduled using either a non-instructional day or an out-of-calendar day.

County boards have discretion as to what type of day is used to make up a canceled instructional

day; they can use available non-instructional days or use an out-of-calendar day instead of

remaining non-instructional days and continue to use the non-instructional days as originally

scheduled. In this manner, a county board can protect a particular non-instructional day, such as

the preparation day for the closing of school, from being used as a make-up day.

County boards also have discretion as to when to start using non-instructional or out-of-calendar

days for make-up; they no longer have to wait until March 1 to do so.

If a county board does not have sufﬁcient non-instructional days remaining to make-up all

canceled instructional days, the board must reschedule the canceled instructional days using

remaining out-of-calendar days.

When an out-of-calendar day is used to make-up the canceled instructional day, the canceled

instructional day becomes the out-of-calendar (non-paid) day.

17. Rescheduled Days: If a county reschedules canceled instructional days using either

non-instructional days or out-of-calendar days, employees are not entitled to an additional

day of compensation, unless an employee is required to report to work on both the canceled

instructional day and the day used to make-up the canceled day, thus increasing the number of

days the employee is required to work during the school year. Also, an employee’s pay is not to

be adjusted during a pay period because of the cancelation of an instructional day in accordance

with WVC §18A-5-2.

18. Accrued Instructional Time: Accrued Instructional Time may be used to recover

instructional time lost due to: the late arrival or early dismissal of students due to inclement

weather; or the closing of school because of the prevalence of contagious disease, conditions

of weather or any other calamitous cause over which the board has no control. Other

allowable uses for accrued instructional time include professional development activities or

to accommodate the scheduling of faculty senate meetings on instructional days. Accrued

instructional time cannot be used to avoid one hundred eighty separate days of instruction.

While the use of accrued instructional time for faculty senate meetings and professional

development is permitted under State Board Policy 3234, counties are not required to utilize

accrued instructional time for those purposes. It is simply an option available if a county

determines that such a use of accrued instructional time would be beneﬁcial.

19. Employment Term: According to WVC §18-5-45, each county board must provide for a

minimum employment term for regular, full-time employees of at least two hundred (200) days,

exclusive of Saturdays and Sundays, which need not be successive. The beginning and closing

dates of the employment term may not exceed forty-eight (48) weeks. The employment term

is to be divided into ten twenty-day months and each employment month must be shown on a

separate line on the school calendar form. The employment term shall consist of an instructional

term for pupils of no less than one hundred eighty (180) separate instructional days and twenty

(20) non-instructional days. The twenty non-instructional days shall be comprised of the following:

• Seven legal school holidays;

• An Election Day (E);

• Six days to be designated as outside the school environment (OS), four of which must be

scheduled after the 130th instructional day;

• Six other non-instructional days, which can be for the following purposes: curriculum

development (CD); preparation for the opening or closing of schools (P); continuing

professional development (CE); teacher-pupil-parent conference (TP); professional

meetings (PM); make-up days (MU) for when instruction was scheduled but not conducted;

faculty senate meetings (FS); or scheduled out of calendar days to be used for instructional

days in the event school is canceled for any reason.

20. Legal School Holidays (H): According to WVC §18-5-45, county boards are to provide for

seven school holidays, as speciﬁed in WVC §18A-5-2, within the minimum 200 employment term.

Consequently, the calendar that is developed by each county board MUST include seven school

holidays. If an employee’s minimum 200 day employment term includes more than seven school

holidays within the period, the additional days are to be scheduled as nonpaid out of calendar

days. This should be clearly speciﬁed in both the employment contract for personnel and the

school calendar.

The seven holidays can be a combination of the following: Independence Day, Labor Day,

Veteran’s Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr.’s

Birthday, Memorial Day and West Virginia Day. Other legal school holidays that may need to be

added to the school calendar for a particular county would be any day (except Saturday) on

which a special election is held throughout the State or school district, and any day appointed

and set apart by the President or Governor as a holiday or special day of observance by public

schools.

For reference, WVC §18A-5-2 speciﬁes the days that are considered legal school holidays and

WVC §2-2-1 speciﬁes the dates that are State holidays, and both code sections specify the usual

date of observance, if a holiday happens to fall on a Saturday or Sunday.

The dates of observation of the seven legal holidays that might fall within the minimum

employment term, and the dates of the elections for the 2017-18 year are:

July 4, 2017 - Independence Day

September 5, 2017- Labor Day

November 10, 2017- Veteran’s Day

November 23, 2017- Thanksgiving Day

December 25, 2017- Christmas Day

January 1, 2018- New Year’s Day

January 15, 2018- Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday

May 28, 2018 - Memorial Day

June 20, 2018 - West Virginia Day

Although Good Friday and Easter are not school or State holidays, for informational purposes,

Good Friday falls on March 30, 2018 and Easter falls on Sunday, April 1, 2018 during the

upcoming year.

21. Election Days (E): Although elections other than special elections in the State are held every

two years, one of the regular election dates occurs every school year, either a primary or general

election. There is no general election in 2017.

22. Continuing Education Days (C): According to State Board Policy 3234, County boards

are required to provide all Pre-K and service personnel employees at least eighteen (18) hours

of professional development annually. Professional educators must adhere to the requirements

of WVBE Policy 5500, Professional Learning for West Virginia Educators. The school calendar

must be developed in such a manner that the requirement can be met during the minimum

200 day employment term. All service personnel are required to complete the number of hours

of professional development provided each year by their respective county boards. Days

scheduled for this purpose are to be designated as Continuing Education (CE) days on the

school calendar.

23. Outside the School Environment Days (OS Days): WVC §18-5-45 requires six OS days,

four of which must be scheduled after the 130th instructional day. These days are to be used as

make-up days when a full instructional day is missed.

24. Faculty Senate Meetings: WVC §18-5A-5(b) (12) states that a local board shall provide to

each faculty senate a two-hour block of time for a faculty senate meeting on the day scheduled

for the opening of school prior to the beginning of the instructional term, and a two-hour block

of time on a non-instructional day four additional times, scheduled at least once every 45

instructional days. Faculty Senates may not be scheduled beyond the 45th day of the previous

meeting.

County boards may still provide faculty senates the four two-hour blocks of time to meet during

the year on an instructional day by using accrued instructional time for the time that students are

not in attendance. However, every school in the district must have earned sufﬁcient time for all

faculty senates in the district to meet in that manner.

A faculty senate may elect to schedule a meeting on an instructional day outside of the

instructional time for students, and take compensatory time off on the non-instructional day that is

provided by the county board for its meeting, as long as the meeting takes place prior to the day

that is scheduled in the school calendar.

If a non-instructional day that is originally scheduled for faculty senates to meet is canceled

due to inclement weather, the county board may, but is not required, to reschedule the non-

instructional day in order for the faculty senate to meet.

25. Compensatory Time: County boards are permitted to offer compensatory time to employees

who are required to work on a canceled instructional day. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

and West Virginia Code contain various requirements related to compensatory time for non-

exempt employees, which for boards of education are generally service personnel. The FLSA

requires that an agreement or understanding between the employer and employee exist prior to

the performance of work. WVC §21-5C-3(f) (2) further requires that the agreement be in writing

and be recorded in the employer’s record of hours worked. The statute goes on to state that the

written agreement may be modiﬁed at the request of either the employer or the employee, but

under no circumstances can the changes in the agreement deny an employee compensatory

time previously acquired. An employer may use discretion as to when an employee is permitted

to use compensatory time earned and may establish limits as to how long compensatory time

may be carried. For example, an employer may require that any compensatory time earned

be used within 30, 45 or 60 days after being earned, or by the end of the ﬁscal year. WVC

§21-5C-3(f) (5) (B) requires that compensatory time be used within one year from the time it is

earned.

To preclude misunderstandings, county boards should establish written procedures as to how

compensatory time may be earned and taken. Additional information related to compensatory

time can be found in the FLSA Compliance Guide located under Manuals on the Ofﬁce of School

Finance website at the following link: http://wvde.state.wv.us/ﬁnance/.

GUIDANCE FOR DEVELOPING A LOCAL BOARD POLICY

TO ADDRESS INCLEMENT WEATHER EMERGENCIES AND THE

RECOVERY OF INSTRUCTIONAL TIME LOST DUE TO LATE ARRIVALS

AND EARLY DISMISSALS

Both WVC §18-5-45 and State Board Policy 3234 regarding school calendars require that county

boards develop a county policy that addresses the recovery of instructional time lost due to late

arrivals and early dismissals. Both also require that each county board develop an inclement weather

and emergencies policy designed to guarantee that 180 separate days of instructions are provided to

students. In addition, there are other issues regarding the school calendar that each county should

address in a local policy. 

To make it more efﬁcient from both a development and administration standpoint, it is recommended

that just one policy be developed to address all issues related to the school calendar. It is further

recommended that the following other topics be included in the policy:

1. Whether certain non-instructional days are to be considered as unavailable for use as a

make-up day and in essence, notify all employees that they are protected from such use. For

example, a county board could specify in its policy that the preparation (P) day at the end of

the school year will not be used to reschedule a canceled instructional day. Such days could

also include professional development/continuing education (CE) days; Teacher-Parent (TP)

conference days or professional meeting (PM) days.

2. Whether the board, or the superintendent as designee, has the authority to make those

decisions at the time instructional days are being rescheduled. (Caution: It is suggested that

the policy not state that “all available non-instructional days will be used before any out-of-

calendar days are used as make-up days”. Such a requirement would prevent a county board

from protecting any non-instructional day from being used as a make-up day).

3. Clariﬁcation that in situations where there are insufﬁcient non-instructional days available to

make-up all canceled instructional days in any particular year, all out-of-calendar days through

June 30, with the exception of West Virginia Day, which is normally celebrated on June 20

are considered available for use to ensure that 180 separate days of instruction are provided to

students.

4. Clariﬁcation that in the situations where it becomes necessary to use an out-of-calendar day

as a make-up day for a canceled instructional day, the originally scheduled instructional day

becomes the out-of-calendar (non-paid) day and the originally scheduled out-of-calendar day

becomes the paid instructional day.

Note, however, that in situations where a service employee is required to report to work on both

the canceled day and the rescheduled instructional day, such as a custodian who is required to

report to work to clear snow on the canceled day, he/she is entitled to compensation for both days.

But according to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the compensation can be in the form of

compensatory time off as long as the employee agrees to such payment in advance.

5. Requirements for the county boards that allow employees to attend professional development

activities on their own time and take the scheduled continuing education (CE) days as

compensatory days off. Such requirements should include: the obtaining of prior approval

before employees attend a professional development activity on their own time; from whom

such approval is to be obtained; submission of documentation of attendance, etc.

6. Clariﬁcation that any day that is scheduled or being provided in the calendar as a

compensatory day off for tasks that are performed earlier in the year on the employees own

time, such as professional development, teacher-parent conferences, faculty senate meetings,

etc. will be provided only if the day is still available as a non-instructional day and not being

used to reschedule a canceled instructional day;

7. The requirement that all professional employees adhere to the conditions of WVBE Policy

5500, Professional Learning for WV Educators, and Pre-K and service personnel complete a

minimum of 18 hours of continuing education annually.

8. Clariﬁcation regarding accrued instructional time to include: how it is calculated; what ofﬁces

are responsible for its calculation; how the time is to be calculated for the schools that have

multiple grade conﬁgurations, such as a school with grade conﬁgurations of Pre-K through 8

grade; and the fact that if accrued instructional time is used county-wide to make up missed

instructional time due to late arrivals or early dismissals for all schools, that time must be

subtracted from the balance to determine the time that schools have for use at their discretion.

It is also suggested that the policy be worded in such a manner that it grants the superintendent the

latitude to make decisions regarding the rescheduling of canceled instructional days as the need

arises.

Please do not hesitate to contact the Division of Teaching and Learning at 304-558-9994 if you have

questions, or need additional information.

Local Policy Guidance 17(Rev. 12-16)

CHECKLIST FOR SCHOOL CALENDAR

CHECKLIST FOR REVIEWING SCHOOL CALENDARS

FOR THE 2017-2018 SCHOOL YEAR

County Board:

Reviewer: Date of Review:

Yes No

2 A schedule of high school graduation dates is provided on page 2 of the Excel file.

The minimum 200 day employment term does not exceed 48 weeks

(40 out of calendar days max)

A minimum of 180 instructional days are scheduled.

The top section of each box is blank.

5 A total of 20 non-instructional days are scheduled.

6 Each of the ten school months contains exactly 20 employment days.

8 The following seven legal holidays are scheduled on the appropriate dates:

Labor Day - September 4, 2017

Veteran's Day - November 10, 2017, Observed

Thanksgiving Day - November 23, 2017

Christmas Day - December 25, 2017

New Year's Day - January 1, 2018

Martin Luther King Jr's Birthday - January 15, 2018

Memorial Day - May 28, 2018

9 A total of six "OS" days are scheduled.

10 It appears the county has an opportunity for at least 18 hours of continuing education.

11 At least five other non-instructional days are scheduled. (TP, CD, CE, PM, MU, FS or P)

13 The total number of out-of-calendar days does not exceed 40.

14 The summary columns reflect 20 employment days for each month and reflect at least 180 days.

15 The first and last days of the employment term are listed correctly.

16 The first and last days of the instructional term are listed correctly.

17 The last day of the first semester is listed correctly. First semester must be at least 85 days.

19 There are no more than 45 instructional days after the last scheduled faculty senate meeting.

Comments:

DTL

Checklist 16

Item

01/13/17

At least one Preparation Day (P) is scheduled prior to the first instructional day (in order to have

the first faculty senate meeting of the year as mandated by code).

At least 4 OS days are scheduled after the 130th day of instruction.

The completed school calendar form is submitted in the newly automated Excel file.

High school graduation dates are not scheduled earlier than five days before the end of the

instructional term. Non-instructional days should not be considered.

The five faculty senate meeting dates are listed correctly - at least every 45 days with never more

than 45 days between.

SAMPLE TRADITIONAL SCHOOL CALENDAR

SAMPLE BALANCED SCHOOL CALENDAR

GUIDANCE FOR WVBE POLICY 3234, SECTION 11

126-73-11. Approval of Alternatives

The revisions to WVBE Policy 3234, School Calendar, speciﬁcally Section 11 are a result of HB 2377,

a bill charging counties and schools to rethink the way time is utilized to address student and adult

learning during the school year and within the individual school schedule. WVBE Policy 3234, Section

11 of School Calendar provides ﬂexibility to district leaders, principals, and teacher leaders as they

plan their school year and schedule. The intent of the policy is to ensure the needs of the people who

are served by the school are addressed and implemented at the local level.

Section 11

What It Means to School Leaders,

Teachers, and Students

11. 1 Pursuant to W. Va. Code §18-2-5, the WVBE

may approve certain alternatives with respect

to instructional time proposed by a county

board or school that meet the spirit and intent

of applicable statutes and are intended solely

to optimize student learning.

The WVBE can approve proposals to change

the school calendar or the individual school

schedule on per county or per school basis.

One size does not ﬁt all, and this ensures

counties can adjust the calendar and schools

can adjust the schedule to beneﬁt the

students and the community.

11. 2 Successful schools are distinguishable from

unsuccessful schools by the frequency

and extent to which teachers discuss

professional practices, collectively design

materials, and inform and critique each other

through collaborative planning, examination

of student data, and participation in high

quality professional learning experiences.

To achieve this result, the WVBE must have

reasonable discretion to balance the local

autonomy and ﬂexibility needed by schools to

deliver a thorough and efﬁcient education as

evidenced in a proposal that includes:

Schools beneﬁt when teachers have time

to meet and learn from their peers, plan

lessons together, and help each other build

their teaching practice. Examination of

student data and formative assessment of

practice and student performance ensures

a continual cycle of improvement within

the individual school. The WVBE provides

ﬂexibility through reimagined time to serve

the needs of individual schools by supporting

reasonable and collaborative changes to

school schedules.

11.2.a sufﬁcient time within the instructional term to

promote the improvement of instruction and

instructional practices;

Schools have the ability to adjust their

schedules to accommodate professional

learning within the school day to improve

teaching and learning.

11.2.b school-level determination of alternatives

affecting time within the school day that

provide teachers with:

Decisions can be made by individual

schools to change their schedule without

a simultaneous county-wide alteration of

schedule. This ensures all schools are

planning what serves the needs of their

student population in the most effective

manner.

11.2.b.1 sufﬁcient planning time to develop engaging,

differentiated instruction for all students in all

classes, and

Local school administrators and teacher

leadership can collaboratively work to

develop schedules wherein teachers have

time to plan lessons that engage all students

and allow for personalization of education.

11.2.b.2 collaborative time for teachers to undertake

and sustain instructional improvement.

Local school administrators and teacher

leadership collaboratively work to develop

professional learning experiences that

support the school improvement process and

address the requirements of WVBE Policy

5500, Professional Learning for West Virginia

Educators and WVBE Policy 4310, Educator

Evaluation.

11.2.c consideration of how learning time must

not be assumed to be solely the time that

a student is seated at a desk, but can also

include time in the school day during which

actively engages students in the learning

process; and

Students can receive valuable learning

experiences through community service

projects, internships with local businesses,

project based learning, outside classroom

experiences (ﬁeld trips, guest teachers,

speakers, partnerships with local

organizations, etc.)

11.2.d articulation of how schools are provided the

opportunity to determine which methods

will be utilized to ensure teachers can plan

individually and collectively to maximize

learning time, such as:

11.2.d.1-11.2.d.6.

Scheduling, using special subject teachers

and guest speakers, dedicating time set

aside for professional learning experiences

and/or staff development, implementing

alternative staff utilization patterns, providing

opportunities for administrators to teach, and

utilizing accrued instruction time.

Section 11 of WVBE Policy 3234 may assist you as you rethink the instructional day and year, as well

as consider the impact of time on professional learning and student achievement. This section may

assist you if you are considering applying for Reimagining Time or Non-Traditional Instructional Day

initiatives.

Michael J. Martirano, Ed.D.

State Superintendent of Schools