RSD seeks waivers on make-up school days

ROYAL CITY — Royal School District students may not have to make up the school days canceled by severe winter weather. The same could be true for the days missed at Red Rock Elementary because of the Jan. 7-8 flooding.

According to RSD Superintendent Roger Trail, Governor Jay Inslee has signed a proclamation allowing several districts, including Royal, to apply for a waiver and not have to make up inclement weather cancellations due to the storm that commenced around Jan. 10.

In addition, OSPI has the authority to waive days after June 14, provided that a district average of 1,027 instructional hours is met.

“If we were not to receive a waiver (and the anticipated waiver for Red Rock flood days), as it stands today, the high, middle and intermediate schools would have to make up days all the way until June 16 and Red Rock would have to go until June 22, Trail said. Monday, Jan. 23, was the District’s seventh full-day cancellation.

“Fortunately, as it stands, our average instructional hours will still be well above the required 1,027,” Trail said. “This means — barring several more cancellations — that our last day of school should be June 14.

Trail said the District will have to request the waiver from OSPI regarding the lost instructional days at Red Rock due to the flood. There were eight days missed.

“We are confident that we would be granted this request because we will have satisfied the minimum number of required instructional hours,” Trail said.

Trail said the District will wait until officials feel they are “out of the woods” with winter conditions and snow days before submitting the waiver requests.