Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has delayed or canceled in-person classes in response to winter weather for seven straight school days. That's left parents and students asking: Will all those missed days mean more school days added later?
Not yet, at least according to CMS policy and state law about instructional time.
Over the last two weeks, CMS has closed all facilities three times, held two fully remote learning days, and delayed opening twice. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools didn’t respond to requests for comment on the impact on the calendar.
Still, all of those adjustments shouldn't deplete the cushion the district built into the calendar to meet the state’s minimum requirement of 1,025 instructional hours, and won’t require makeup days.
The 2025-26 academic calendar plans for 1,063 instructional hours, which gives the district some wiggle room. CMS Superintendent Crystal Hill is allowed to waive up to four days without makeups as long as the state hourly requirement is still met — she has waived the three days CMS closed down completely, including the most recent one this Tuesday, which gives her one more to work with.
On top of that, state law allows districts to use up to five remote learning days that can count as instructional hours.
And while the two delayed openings will impact the hours count, that still leaves the district room to work with.
CMS also builds five makeup days into the schedule, but one of them, Jan. 23, has already passed without being used. That day, the Friday before the first snowstorm, was a teacher workday with no student instruction.
That means students haven’t had a full day of in-person classes since Jan. 22.
