Heat Days
Interrupted School Days/Heat
A major responsibility of a local school superintendent
is the health and safety of your students. Section 18-12,
the School Code allows the use of Interrupted School Days
for “adverse weather conditions”. As a reminder,
with regard to extreme heat the Illinois State Board of Education
(ISBE) allows four options:
- Amend the public school calendar to start school
at a later date
- Dismiss after 5-clock-hours of instruction
- Utilize an Emergency Day
- Utilize an Interrupted Day
If an Emergency Day is utilized it is strongly recommended
that an Amended Calendar be submitted electronically through
IWAS to the Regional Office of Education (ROE) for approval,
to assure that the most up to date Public School Calendar
is available on-line via the School Calendar Inquiry. If
an Interrupted Day is utilized, an Amended Calendar must
be submitted electronically through IWAS, within 30 days
of occurrence, to the ROE, who will forward it to ISBE for
approval. The Calendar Code for Emergency Day is ED. The
Calendar Code for an Interrupted Day is XID. The calendar
code XID requires Student Attendance Time to verify a minimum
of 1 instructional clock hour was conducted as well as a
brief explanation of why the day was interrupted.
ISBE’s current policy further states that if the
announcement is made in advance (i.e., on the previous
day) that school
will be closing on any day or days after less than 5 clock
hours because of heat, you must use an emergency day(s).
You cannot count that shortened day as a full-day of attendance
under those circumstances.
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