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Florida Schools Schedule Make Up Days After Two Hurricanes

(Flickr Creative Commons/Marty4650).
(Flickr Creative Commons/Marty4650).

After two hurricanes in the first nine weeks, North Central Florida schools are scrambling to make up the days.

Hurricane Hermine, which hit Florida at the beginning of September, caused closures for most schools in the area on Friday, Sept. 2.

Hurricane Matthew, a Category 4 storm when it wreaked havoc along Florida's east coast last week, caused school closures on Friday, Oct. 7 in most counties and Thursday Oct. 6 for a few.

In Florida, school days missed due to a state of emergency, which was issued by the governor for both storms, still need to be made up unless a waiver is issued by the state.

While many counties are still waiting on approval, some have already scheduled their make-up days:

Alachua County will make up Sept. 2 and Oct. 7 closures on March 31 and Oct. 21, respectively. If another day is missed due to a hurricane, Jan. 17 will be used to make it up.

Lafayette County closed Sept. 2 and Oct. 7, but no make-up days are required for the county because the school year is longer than required.

Marion County closed Sept. 2 and Oct. 7. Sept. 2 will be made up April 14 but no decision has been made for Oct. 7.

Putnam County closed Sept. 2 and Oct. 6 and 7. Sept. 2 will be made up with a built-in extra time during the year, and a decision for Oct. 6 and 7 will likely be made at the Oct. 18 Putnam County School Board meeting.

Dixie County is seeking a waiver from the state for no make-up days to be required after multiple closures this year, including Aug. 10 due to local flooding, Sept. 1 and 2 for Hurricane Hermine and Oct. 7 for Hurricane Matthew.

Union County closed Sept. 2 and Oct. 7. No make-up day is required for Sept. 2 due to built-in extra time during the year, but no decision has been made for Oct. 7.

As school board meetings are held in counties, more make-up days will be announced. Many counties use teacher work days to make up the days missed.

Virginia is a reporter for WUFT News.