The BPS School Board approved Superintendent Mark Mullin’s recommendation for making up the three days lost to Hurricane Ian at Tuesday night’s meeting. The plan is to make the four upcoming early-release Fridays into full days to compensate for the lost required seat time. 

“I completely agree with the decision versus skipping some of our breaks,” senior Zachary Zammas said. “It’s a lot easier to stay an extra hour or so rather than having to waste our break days. We don’t really need those days anyway, our school moves at a fast enough pace. They don’t need to add more days onto it.”

The first semester will be extended until Jan. 9 and the early release Fridays being converted to full days will be Nov. 4, Nov. 18, Dec. 2, and Jan. 6. Science teacher Mary Schropp said she followed the decision until its final vote.

“I think the makeup days are great because not only a lot of students, but also a lot of teachers and families have made plans over Thanksgiving Break,” Schropp said. “They’d be missing that Monday and Tuesday anyway, it’s more reasonable to stay on Fridays.”

The plan preserves Nov. 21-23 during Thanksgiving Break and early release days for midterm exams. Future storms causing cancellation of school could influence this current decision.