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That decision came Tuesday night during a special-called Burke County Board of Education meeting, where the board revised the school system calendar for the year due to the days missed because of the impact of Hurricane Helene. The storm caused the school system to have to shut down schools due to power losses.

Karen Auton, deputy school superintendent, said changes to the school calendar were allowed by a state bill.

The school board changed the fall semester end date to Jan. 17, rather than the original Dec. 20, which will become a holiday. Auton said the school system lost nine school days with students (58 instructional hours) due to the storm. She said the lost time takes the semester from 78 days to 69 instructional days.

Moving the fall semester end date will help balance out the two semesters, Auton told the school board. She proposed adding the additional days to give the fall semester 89 days and spring semester would get 83 days.

The fall semester originally had 94 days in it before Helene.

Making the change also will preserve holiday breaks and keep the last day of school the same, Auton said.

Auton said the change may impact some mid-year students and those who also attend community college. The schools system can work with individual students to make it work, Auton said.

Board member Wendi Craven, who also is principal of Hickory High School, said it’s imperative to get those extra nine days because the semester would be too short, otherwise. It would be too hard for high school teachers to complete courses, Craven said.

Board member Leslie Taylor suggested making Dec. 20 a half-day in the amended calendar, which is what it was in the original calendar.

Jan. 21-22 will become work days for staff and the spring semester will start Jan. 23, according to the changes.

Auton said Sept. 26 and 27 were originally remote learning days, while Sept. 30 and Oct. 1-2 classes were out and Oct. 3-4 and Oct. 7-8 were optional teacher work days.

The change to the calendar will keep Sept. 26 as a remote learning day, but change the other days to regular student instructional days.

With the potential for bad weather later this school year, Auton said they want to preserve the remote learning days.

The board also agreed to move the March 4 and 14 work days to March 20-21. May 30 will be a half day for students.

In addition to making calendar changes, the board approved employee compensation for the period of the storm’s impact, which is allowed by the state.

Keith Lawson, finance director for Burke County Public Schools, said all eligible employees will be credited for a full 7.5 or 8 hours a day for a total of eight days Sept. 27 through Oct. 8.

Actual hours worked during those days by classified staff such as custodians, teacher assistants, maintenance and school office staff will be credited compensatory time for the days and hours staff were able to work, he said.

Lawson said it was everyone’s intent for those who were able to assist during Hurricane Helene and recovery to be recognized and compensated. Work by staff such as teachers, instructional coaches, media coordinators, guidance counselors, instructional technology facilitators, nurses, speech services and others will be managed at the school level by the principals, Lawson said.

Permanent employees, school nutrition employees, temporary employees, some contracted employees, bus drivers, retirees and substitute teachers who were scheduled to work and some others are all eligible, he said.

Board member Don Hemstreet was absent from the meeting.