Excused absences: After four snow days, 36 percent of KCS students stayed out last Friday

KINGSPORT — When Kingsport City Schools resumed operations Friday after four days out for snow and cold, almost four in 10 students stayed home.However, a school system spokesman said those absences won't count against students and will be treated as normal parent-approved ones, and they won't count against the eight allowed parental student absences allowed per student each year.Chief Information Officer Andy True Monday said that as of 11 a.m. Friday, the district reported an attendance of 64.13 percent, which he said Monday "was not unexpected."As of Monday morning, the system's enrollment was 7,429, including pre-kindergarten programs, and 7,059 not counting those students. At the system's largest school, Dobyns-Bennett High School with more than 2,100 enrolled, attendance was 62.2 percent, which meant that about 800 students did not attend Friday.True said in this kind of situation, KCS policy gives parents a free excused absence that doesn't count against the normally allowed eight a year."For weather-related events, this is a parental option," True said. The student handbook gives parents discretion on weather days to keep students home."It has nothing to do with the (eight annual) parent discretion days," True said Monday, adding that the student handbook specifies that parents can keep students home for poor weather conditions "if a parent doesn't feel it's safe conditions" for a delayed or regular schedule.As for transportation, every school bus ran during the two-hour delay, although True said that transportation supervisor Ken Barnes reported buses did not run on portions of eight streets among the 400 miles of streets and roads city school buses travel each school day. True said one area where city streets were still too slick to carry buses was the area just north of Stone Drive behind Canter Appliances, which includes steep hills.With more wintry weather in the forecast this week, True said the decisions to have school, cancel school or have a delay would be done on a "day-to-day" basis.True said the absences were spread pretty evenly across all schools. As for education funding and accountability, True said that the state of Tennessee bases funding for the system on attendance and has set a goal of 93 percent attendance for the system and others across the state."One day like that is not going to have a significant impact on our attendance," True said. Although city schools were out last Monday through Thursday, exhausting the designated four "snow days" in the school calendar, True said school officials were able to get in the scheduled Thursday options meeting with Ohio-based consultant Tracy Richter of DeJong-Richter. Kingsport schools resumed Monday but were out again Tuesday for snow.Richter is to present the final steering committee recommendations to the school board in May. If the system misses any more days, rather than add additional days to the end of the school year or take away spring break or teacher professional development, the school board has the option to designate additional banked days as snow days.Kingsport's Board of Education, on the advice of Superintendent Lyle Ailshie, set aside four days for inclement weather, two days for teacher professional development and the remaining seven as banked days designated for additional instructional time.However, the school board, if more snow days occur this school year, can use some of the seven remaining banked days. Other surrounding systems, including Sullivan and Hawkins in Tennessee and Scott other others throughout Southwest Virginia, remained closed Monday and Tuesday, marking a week and two days out of classes.