by Kate Evans
The Morgan County School Board voted to officially adopt the 2020-2021 school calendar at their March 17 meeting which was held at the school board office.
The board held two public hearings on the proposed school calendar at previous meetings-one on February 18 at Berkeley Springs High School and one on March 3 at Warm Springs Intermediate School- to talk about the proposed calendar’s features.
School starts August 18
The adopted school calendar has Tuesday, August 18, as the first day of school for students this fall. School Treasurer Ann Bell said that feedback on schools’ preference for the Option A or Option B school calendar was split and that the board compromised between the two options.
Option A had a Wednesday start back to school for students and Option B a Monday start for students. The board went with a Tuesday beginning of school for students, Bell said.
“This aligns with the Fiscal Year 2021 Berkeley County calendar and assures our James Rumsey students will start there on the first day as well. The remainder of the calendar (breaks, faculty senate days, etc.) remains the same as they were in both options A & B,” Bell said in an email.
Staff will return on Wednesday, August 12 for three days of curriculum development from August 12-14 and come in for their school opening preparation on Monday, August 17.
The adopted 2020-2021 school calendar has a full week of vacation scheduled from November 23-27 and a full Christmas break from December 21 through January 1. Students would return to school on January 4, 2021. Spring break is set for April 5-9, 2021.
If there are no snow or inclement days to make up, Friday, May 28, 2021 will be the last day of instruction for the 2020-2021 school year. Additional snow make-up days are always put into the school calendar in June in case school is closed for inclement weather.
Graduation Day for Berkeley Springs High School will be May 27, 2021 and Graduation Day for Paw Paw High School will be May 28, 2021. The school year will have 180 days of instruction per West Virginia Code.
There are also four Faculty Senate Days and two professional developments days scheduled along with the three curriculum development staff days before school begins.
