South Putnam not granted waiver

In March, South Putnam Community School Corporation Supt. Bruce Bernhardt filed a waiver with the Indiana Dept. of Education hoping to eliminate one of the school days on the 2006-07 calendar.

Severe weather conditions had put the county in a state of emergency for several days in late February. Bernhardt told the BannerGraphic at the time that the corporation missed one day the week before the February storm, which also forced four cancellations.

On Monday, Bernhardt told the BannerGraphic the corporation had not received word on a waiver for seniors, but the remaining students in the corporation will have to attend one more day.

The purpose of the waiver, Bernhardt said, was to get students out of school before Memorial Day, which is on Monday.

Bernhardt told the BannerGraphic Monday at the corporation's monthly school board meeting that the Dept. of Education called him last week regarding the issue. He said the corporation could receive a waiver for seniors within the next two days. Seniors are scheduled to graduate Saturday.

But for the remaining SPCSC students, school will end Tuesday.

"At the time, I thought we could get (the waiver) for all students," Bernhardt said. "(The Dept. of Education) is not giving a general waiver.

"They're very concerned about making sure students attend 180 days. It's hard to get waivers."

Bernhardt said some teachers have scheduled final exams on the final day of school and added the reaction of students was "varied."

"Obviously, everybody wanted to get out before Memorial Day," he said.

Bernhardt said the South Putnam district is not the only county corporation applying for the waiver, saying he was told that the North Putnam Community School Corporation had also applied, but he was not aware if Cloverdale or Greencastle had applied.