Parents of Flint Hill Elementary students are expressing frustration after the Fort Mill School Board voted Monday to implement back-to-back Saturday eLearning days to make up for instructional time lost during chemical leaks at a nearby solar plant.
The board approved a plan requiring students to attend asynchronous virtual classes on April 25 and May 2. The makeup days are intended to recover time lost on March 5 and 6, when the campus was twice evacuated due to incidents at the neighboring Silfab Solar facility.
Under South Carolina law, school districts are required to provide 180 days of instruction. District administrators informed the board that the South Carolina Department of Education denied requests to waive the missed days.
District officials said the only other alternatives were to hold classes on Memorial Day or a scheduled teacher workday on June 1.
In a message to families, the district stated it is working to minimize the impact of the schedule changes.
“We understand this has been a stressful situation for our students, parents, and staff,” the district said.
