The last day of school for students will once again be June 15, 2004, as the result of state waivers granted for two emergency days used last fall during Hurricane Isabel.

The waiver recognizes the good faith effort by the school system to schedule as many days as possible to ensure sufficient instructional time this year.

The original school calendar included 184 instructional days for students, four more than required by the state. Schools were closed for six days, two during the hurricane and four during winter storms. Consequently, the school year would have been extended by two days in order to meet the state requirement for 180 instructional days.

However, even with the lost six days, the school system's longer school day meant that schools already would exceed the state's other requirement for 1,080 hours of instructional time for elementary schools and middle schools and 1,170 hours for high schools.

Dr. Nancy S. Grasmick, state superintendent of schools, granted the waiver, based on authority by the Maryland State Board of Education to help school districts recovering from Hurricane Isabel. County schools were closed on September 18 and September 22 because of the storm. Had it not been for the hurricane closures, the school system would have managed the winter closures with the four potential “snow days” built into the approved school calendar.