A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to allow local school administrative units to make up snow days by requiring students to complete lessons posted online.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 115C‑84.2(a)(1)  reads as rewritten:
"(a)	School Calendar. – Each local board of education shall adopt a school calendar consisting of 215 days all of which shall fall within the fiscal year. A school calendar shall include the following:
(1)	(See notes) A minimum of 180 days and 1,000 hours of instruction covering at least nine calendar months. The local board shall designate when the 180 instructional days shall occur. The number of instructional hours in an instructional day may vary according to local board policy and does not have to be uniform among the schools in the administrative unit. Local boards may approve school improvement plans that include days with varying amounts of instructional time. If school is closed early due to inclement weather, the day and the scheduled amount of instructional hours may count towards the required minimum to the extent allowed by State Board policy. The school calendar shall include a plan for making up days and instructional hours missed when schools are not opened due to inclement weather. Days and instructional hours may be made up through distance learning in accordance with subsection (a1) of this section."
SECTION 2.  G.S. 115C‑84.2 is amended by adding a new subsection to read:
"(a1)	Use of Distance Learning to Make Up Instructional Days Lost Due to Inclement Weather. – A local board may permit students to make up a maximum of five days missed due to inclement weather in accordance with a plan approved by the State Board of Education. The plan shall provide for students to access and complete instruction prepared by their teachers and posted on the unit's Web portal or Web site. Students shall be required to complete the instruction within two weeks of a missed day. The unit may provide students access to computers before or after the regularly scheduled school day to complete the instruction."
SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law and applies beginning with the 2011‑2012 school year.