These Triangle students won’t have to make up this week’s snow days. Here’s why.
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Wake and Durham will apply banked time to cover two weather-related closures.
- Chapel Hill‑Carrboro converted Wednesday teacher workday into a regular school day.
- State law requires 1,025 instructional hours; districts use banked time first.
Some Triangle students won’t have to make up the time missed this week from school cancellations.
Wake County, Durham and Orange County cancelled classes on both Monday and Tuesday while Johnston County, Chapel Hill-Carrboro and Chatham County closed school on Monday due to the threat of wintry weather. But some school districts have already announced that they won’t require students to make up the lost time by using something called “banked time.”
What is banked time?
Under North Carolina law, school districts are required to provide students with at least 1,025 hours of instruction or 185 days of classes each school year. Districts typically comply by meeting the instructional time requirement.
All schools have more than 1,025 hours of instruction built into their calendar. The extra time above the 1,025 hours is called banked time.
Schools typically have enough banked time so that they can avoid making up a handful of days each school year. Once the banked days are gone, schools have to use makeup days.
Most makeup days are scheduled on teacher workdays that can be converted if needed into regular instructional days.
Who is using banked time?
Both Wake County and Durham Public Schools have said they will use banked time to cover this week’s snow days. Durham was also closed on Friday for in-person classes but used remote learning instead that day.
Johnston, Orange and Chatham counties have not officially announced if they’ll use banked time for this week’s school closings.
This district is making the time up
An exception to the use of banked time is the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School System.
The district announced it will convert Wednesday’s teacher workday into a regular school day. This comes after schools were closed Monday and opened on a two-hour delay on both Friday and Tuesday.
“We believe it’s important for students to be in school and learning,” the district told families on social media. “With the amount of planned and unplanned time off lately, turning Wednesday into a regular school day is a sensible option under these circumstances to ensure that teaching and learning continue with as little disruption as possible.
“Teacher Workdays are still essential for planning and professional learning, and we’ll work with our staff to make sure they still get that time in other ways.”
