Pinellas schools won’t use makeup days for time lost to Hurricane Idalia

Pinellas County public schools have no plans to implement hurricane makeup days, despite canceling classes for two days as Hurricane Idalia bore down on Florida’s west coast. last week.

The district calendar, which set aside four dates as possibilities, included enough instructional time that schools did not fall below the state-mandated minimum, spokesperson Isabel Mascareñas said Wednesday.

“It doesn’t look like we need to make up the days we took off,” she said.

The makeup days remain available if additional storms force the district to call off classes again, or if the state requires the district to change course, she added.

It’s a similar situation to what occurred in 2022, when the district did not use the scheduled days after Hurricane Ian closed campuses for four days, but then had to implement a makeup day after Hurricane Nicole came through.

The Hillsborough and Pasco county school districts, which also closed Aug. 29-30 because of Idalia, have not announced their plans for making up the missed classes.

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