Wake will look at bringing back remote learning. When could virtual school days start?
It’s too late for this year, but Wake County could use remote learning next school year as a way to reduce how often students have to attend weather makeup days.
Wake County schools were closed for three days last week, resulting in makeup days that will require some students to come in on Saturdays and others to have their spring break shortened. On Tuesday, the school board’s policy committee gave Superintendent Robert Taylor permission to draw up a plan for using remote learning days for the 2025-26 school year.
Board members said the public will see the remote learning plan before it’s potentially used.
“We’re going to be thoughtful about this,” said school board member Lynn Edmonds, chair of the policy committee. “No one is suggesting that we go back to just remote instruction, that we lean on it too heavily, that we’re disregarding the value of in-person instruction.”
Wake will make up last week’s snow days
Public schools can use up to five remote instruction days per school year that can count toward the state’s requirement of 185 days of classes or 1,025 hours of instruction.
Neighboring districts such as Durham, Johnston County and Chapel Hill-Carrboro used remote instruction last week rather than have snow days. This means students in those districts won’t have to make up the time.
Wake didn’t use remote days because of the frustration families had with online classes when in-person classes were suspended during the pandemic. But last month, the policy committee gave administrators permission to study using remote instruction in lieu of weather makeup days.
Under current district guidelines adopted in 2022, remote instruction is only used as a last resort after banked instructional time and teacher workdays are used up.
What about Saturday school make-up days?
Multi-track year-round schools hold makeup days on Saturdays because the buildings are constantly in use during the week.
Multiple board members talked on Tuesday about how hard it is for teachers to have a six-day workweek when classes are scheduled on Saturdays.
“We should really steer away from people coming to work on a Saturday,” said board member Toshiba Rice.
Board members also questioned student attendance on Saturdays.
Second look at remote instruction rules
Given what happened last week, Edmonds said it makes sense to revisit the remote learning policy. But Edmonds said that any change won’t be for this school year. This means Wake would look to convert remaining teacher workdays if more makeup days are needed.
Taylor assured board members that if they use remote instruction beginning next school year they’ll address issues such as how to help special-education students. He said schools will be more prepared than they were when remote instruction was used during the pandemic.
“I know there’s also a lot we need to do in terms of remote instruction, virtual instruction for teachers and the professional development as well as parents,” Taylor said.
Wake County’s makeup days
Here are the makeup days that have been announced so far for Wake:
This story was originally published February 26, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
