Dawson County School Systems spring break will be spared in spite of winter storms causing nine days of missed classes.

In a letter sent out to parents this week, School Superintendent Keith Porter announced a schedule for making up lost time.

A state school board resolution allows schools to not have to make up all nine missed days. Although some of this flexibility will be used, it is imperative that sufficient instructional minutes are added to ensure that our students have a fair opportunity to perform on standardized tests and master content and skills essential for future coursework, Porter said.

Dawson County schools already were working on a shortened 178-day calendar as opposed to the standard 180 days.

February 17 and 18, days students would have been off for Presidents Day, have already been made up. March 12 and 13 were originally scheduled to be early-release days and have been changed to full days.

March 14 was originally a professional learning day on the school calendar, but has now been changed to a regular school day. April 7 was scheduled in as an inclement-weather day and will be used to make up a school day.

To make up days six and seven missed by weather, Porter said 30 minutes will be added to each school day from March 3 to March 28. If an additional day is missed in the future, then the 30-minute extension could be continued, Porter said.

Days eight through 11 will not be made up.

In addition to allowing students and staff to keep spring break, the graduation schedule and end-of-school-year dates will also not be affected.

We have tried to take into consideration as many factors as possible in developing this makeup schedule, Porter said.