This year the North Union Local School District is participating in the Ohio Department of Education’s online calamity day program. In the past, once the district went beyond the state allowed number of calamity days (this year there are five), they were required to makeup up the days through means such as extending the school year. The Ohio Department of Education has passed a bill allowing school districts to makeup three additional calamity days by providing lessons to students via the Internet. These are called eDays.
How will this work? Let’s say that the school district has used up five calamity days. The weather is bad and the district closes for calamity day number six. The Superintendent will release a Honeywell message reminding parents that instead of being just another calamity day, the day is an eDay and students need to check online for their assignments. On that day, the district will post a link on the district homepage (n-union.k12.oh.us) that will link students to assignments from each of their classes/ teachers.
Once students click on the link on the North Union website they will see a page that lists all teacher names by building. Students simply click on their teacher(s) to see the lessons that have been prepared for them for that day. Students are expected to complete the assignments that day just as if they are in school. If a student is unable to access and/or complete the online lessons that day, they will have two weeks from the date of the calamity day to complete the lessons before they are given an incomplete. The district can use up to three of these online calamity days (eDays) so they would be used for the sixth, seventh and eighth calamity day. The goal of the program is to minimize the impact that calamity days have on student learning.