Some Fort Mill students will have class on back-to-back Saturdays. How’s that work?

Flint Hill Elementary School students will have class assignments on Saturdays to make up for days lost due to chemical incidents at Silfab Solar.

The Fort Mill school board voted 5-2 on Tuesday to have the school hold online classes, or what the state calls eLearning, on April 25 and May 2. Students will be given a workaround if they don’t want to log on those days, but they’ll take absences if they don’t complete the assigned work.

The Saturday school option was preferable to holding school on Memorial Day or June 1 — the Monday after the school year is scheduled to end, according to district administration.

“Neither of those days really present a viable option for parents and students,” said district spokesman Joe Burke.

Why are Flint Hill students making up class?

State law requires 180 days of student instruction. The school district closed Flint Hill Elementary on March 5-6, following separate reports of a chemical spill and leak at the Silfab site adjacent to the school. No other schools in the district closed those days.

The school district initially thought the school board could forgive those days, but the state education department gave a different opinion. Because the district still had days on its calendar marked as potential makeups — Memorial Day and June 1, meant for emergency use — the state expects Flint Hill students to make up the days.

How will Saturday classes work?

The state allowed the Fort Mill district a sixth virtual learning day to help at Flint Hill, with the schools already using four for weather since last fall. Districts typically get up to five online days. So, both Saturday classes will be held virtually.

Teachers will assign classwork for those Saturdays but they won’t hold mandatory online meetings on those days. Teachers sometimes offer optional online help for that type of virtual school, often called asynchronous learning.

Teachers will take attendance, with students marked present until they don’t submit the work, said district technology director Brian Spittle.

“Proof of the work is what makes you present,” he said.

Students are given five school days from the virtual day to complete the assignments. So it’s up to families whether students actually do the work on the Saturdays. Reminders are given during typical school days as the work deadline approaches.

“Attempts are made during the school day to encourage them to do that work,” Spittle said.

Snow day, future virtual school changes

Some of the confusion with the Flint Hill makeup days came from a misunderstanding between the district and state education department about virtual school.

Days that students go online for bad weather, like online school held on a day it snows, don’t count toward the three makeup days a district has to use before its school board can forgive additional days away from class.

This year’s schedule has been unusual with the high number of virtual days, Burke said, as he can’t remember going through this forgiveness process in his nine years. But it could lead the district to use its makeup days faster in future years.

So, for instance, the district would be more likely to take off school on a snow day, then hold virtual or in-person class on a later makeup date.

The consecutive Saturday approach for Flint Hill allows students to make up classes before state testing begins there May 4. Board members and administrators say it isn’t an ideal option, but it’s better than extending the last day of school or other possibilities. Some board members asked about the legal implications of simply not making up the days, regardless of the state’s position.

“I know we’re frustrated,” said board Chairwoman Kristy Spears. “But we’re also a law-abiding district.”