Henryville Schools Receive Waiver for Academic Calendar, Tests

West Clark Community Schools has been granted a waiver from tacking on days to the end of Henryville’s elementary and high schools’ academic year following last month’s storms.Nearly 1,300 students missed several weeks of class following the March 2 storms. All students are now back in class in new temporary locations, but the waiver means they won’t have to make up days missed.Assistant superintendent John Reed, who has been speaking on the district's behalf, said with the waiver students may fall behind in class, but the emotional relief is worth it.“Maybe they won’t catch up…they’ll miss out on a few things, but the life lessons that they have learned from everything they’ve been through, they’ve got to be tremendous. These kids have to go through an ordeal that most kids will never experience thank goodness," he said.Some students are having a difficult time adjusting to the new environment and allowing students to remain on the current academic year will help them adjust, said Reed.“Their families have lost so much. They can go ahead with their summer plans. They won’t be exposed to the stress of seeing all the other schools being excused and they're still chugging away at it, trying to get things going. We feel like this is a blessing in that we’re not going to stress our kids out any further," he said.The district has also been relieved of taking the applied skills portion of the state’s yearly test, which has already passed. The district has also requested exemption from the online portion because the temporary class locations lack adequate environments, said Reed.