The number of days local schoolchildren have missed due to weather has been steadily adding up and Beaufort County Schools is trying a find a way to get the time made up without extending the school year or using vacation days.

Friday, Beaufort County Schools announced it would be adding 10 minutes on to every school day from Monday to the end of the year. Saturday, the plan was postponed and any new schedule will not go into effect until Monday, March 3.

“In response to concerns and possible misunderstandings, the Beaufort County School System will delay implementation of the announced makeup plan for student days until the Board of Education has a chance to meet Monday, Feb. 24,” Beaufort County Schools Public Information Officer Sarah Hodges wrote in an email.

Hodges stated the option of adding 10 minutes to the school came after parents were asked to provide feedback on how instructional time lost during the recent snow days should be made up.

“One of the choices was to add 10 minutes to each school day to capture some of the lost instructional time,” Hodges wrote. “There was no discussion about how the day should be extended, whether time should be added at the beginning or the end.”

On Friday, BCS announced it would add 10 minutes to the beginning of each day, which Hodges said was a first for the county. Part of the reasoning was that negotiating sport and bus schedules in the afternoon was more complicated, compared to changing the morning routine. Another part of the reasoning to adding time in increments, as opposed to adding more days to the school year, was that graduation dates were already set and more days would require extending employment through payroll, according to Hodges.

While no new snow is forecasted for the near future, should more snow events occur, BCS will address it when it happens, she said.

Concerns and questions about the makeup schedule will be addressed at Monday night’s Beaufort County Board of Education meetings.

The Beaufort County Board of Education meets at the BCS central office at 321 Smaw Road, Washington.