The Commonwealth of Virginia requires a minimum of 180 school days each year. For the 2010-11 school year, PWCS has 182 school days (plus time for parent-teacher conferences) at the elementary level and 183 school days at the secondary level. Therefore, PWCS automatically has two snow days built into the calendar for elementary and traditional schools and three snow days for middle and high schools.

Should additional snow days occur, PWCS would then look to the state requirement to provide a minimum of 990 instructional hours. PWCS goes beyond this minimum requirement with a six-hour and 30-minute student school day at all levels – elementary, middle/traditional, and high. Students receive a minimum of five hours and 45 minutes of instructional time (not including lunch and recess) at all schools. As a result, PWCS has the equivalent of eight total “snow” days built into our 2010-11 school year calendar.

If instructional time is available in the 2010-11 calendar at the end of the school year, the last student school day on June 17, 2011 will have a two-hour early release.