Lake Washington School District will make up two of three snow days by changing a teacher professional development day (LEAP day) to a regular school day and by extending the school year one day.

The LEAP day planned for Friday, May 4, will now be a regular school day. The last day of school, a half day, will move from Friday, June 22, to Monday, June 25. June 22 will be a full school day and June 25 will be a half day.

The three snow days took place on January 18-20. The district is required to hold school on 180 days and students must get 1000 hours of instruction on average.

The district calendar this year was planned for 181 days, one more than the required 180. The additional day was designated as a student transition day since so many students will be in new schools as a result of the grade configuration changes to middle schools (grades 6-8) and four year high schools (grades 9-12).

Due to the already late school year end date for this year and the impact of snow make up days, the transition day will be moved from this school year to the beginning of next school year. Shifting the transition day to the beginning of next school year will provide the opportunity to spend more time with students on meaningful and engaging transition activities connected to the beginning of their new school experience. Specific detail of the transition plans and the impact on the 12-13 calendar are being developed.

“I understand families are anxious about these changes and we wanted to provide an opportunity this spring to help students get more familiar with their new schools,” noted Dr. Chip Kimball, superintendent. “By moving it before the start of school next year, students will get much more information about their specific classes and teachers as well as getting more comfortable with the new school before students in other grades arrive.”