Friday counts despite snow, early release from school

By: Sarah Newell williamson | Hickory Daily Record
Published: December 21, 2009

Newton --

Although students were in school for only a few hours Friday due to snow, it counts as a school day.

"As long as we rolled the buses, we count it," said Barry Redmond, superintendent of Newton-Conover City Schools. "We ran the routes and the students came to school."

Catawba County Schools and Hickory Public Schools said Friday counted as a school day for their systems, as well.

All three school systems had already planned an early dismissal for Friday. Catawba County Schools and Newton-Conover City Schools released students at 10 a.m. because of the weather. Because Hickory Public Schools shares its buses among its schools, it released middle and high school students at 10 a.m., and elementary school students at 11 a.m.

North Carolina requires students to attend school for 180 days. Redmond said the state allows the Newton-Conover City Schools to count Friday as one of those days. In addition, the state also requires schools to have 1,000 hours of instruction.

"We typically have about 1,100 hours of instruction, so we'll have enough this year," Redmond said.