A plan of action to make up lost February snow days remains an ongoing discussion among Sequim School District leaders.

Just how many hours/days are needed, however, is unknown, school officials said.

Superintendent Gary Neal said in an interview that the district must meet its instructional average of 1,027 hours for the school year between its schools.

The schools may be eligible for a waiver for some of the days after Gov. Jay Inslee declared a State of Emergency, Neal said, but Sequim schools must meet those instructional hours regardless of how many instructional days may be waived.

“There’s no win-win with where we’re at now,” Neal said. “There’s some hardship where we at.”

Any additions to the school calendar would be district-wide, he said.

“Right now, if we don’t try to make up some days, we’re not going to make that threshold of 1,027,” Neal said.

Representatives with the teachers’ union the Sequim Education Association estimate the district needs to makeup about 25 hours on average between its schools to meet the minimum threshold.

At the district’s March 4 school board meeting, Carol Harms, Sequim Education Association secretary and a Sequim High math teacher, asked the school board to consider eliminating any possibility of teaching during spring break.

“Recent comments by superintendent Neal (at the Feb. 25 school board meeting) have caused a great deal of consternation and distress among district employees as he puts forward the idea of just having school during spring break instead,” Harms said.

“Many school district employees and families have based their vacations that week on the school calendar provided to them by this board,” she said.

Spring break is scheduled for April 1-5.

Instead, Harms recommended the district enact its designated snow days of June 14, 17 and 18 along with the possibility of stretching out instructional days for 10 minutes as needed, and changing late-start/ Professional Development Mondays to a regular schedule, also as needed.

“Both of these options would cause as little disruption to the parents and families as possible,” she said.

Neal, who was at an interview for the superintendent position in Hockinson School District on March 4, said for now they plan to go through the school year on June 14.

He said he also met with union representatives from each school on Feb. 28 to consider snow makeup day options.

SEA representatives said any option for adding onto the school year is a negotiated item and must be discussed with its union representatives before a decision is presented and approved by the school board.

Neal said he’s considering sending out a public survey asking parents and families what they’d prefer to see if anything stands out, with options such as adding days to the end of the school year, adding Saturday school, changing late-start Mondays, subtracting days from spring break and others.

“We want to customize it on what works best for us as a school district,” Neal said. “There’s no template for what everyone does.”

Student board representative Damon Little said he polled a small sample of students in his Spanish class ranging across all grades and that their input was mixed.

He said most students favored eliminating late start Mondays, but seniors didn’t like extending the school year while other grades didn’t mind.

Students generally didn’t like the other options, either, Little said.

School board members took public comment on snow day options on March 4 but did not take action.

They next meet at 6 p.m. Monday, March 18, in the district boardroom, 503 N. Sequim Ave. See agendas at www.sequimschools.org or call 360-582-3260.

Reach Matthew Nash at mnash@sequimgazette.com.