On Feb. 20, the Leander ISD board of trustees voted to alter the 2013–14 district calendar in order to keep Memorial Day a holiday for students and staff.

Due to inclement weather, LISD canceled school on in Jan. 24, Jan. 28 and Feb. 7. The Texas Education Agency requires lost days be made up during the 180 days of school year instruction.

Memorial Day has been listed as a bad-weather makeup day for several years, but it has not been used, district staff said. Parents and veterans addressed the school board during the Feb. 6 meeting, asking LISD to find an alternative date or another option.

"We heard from the community very strongly about Memorial Day being a day of work for students or staff," Superintendent Bret Champion said. "We heard requests from the community to be creative and see what else could be done."

Champion said the TEA agreed to grant a waiver for at least one bad-weather makeup day, meaning students would only have to attend school two extra days—March 3 and April 28—instead of three.

Students will also attend a full day of school on Feb. 26 instead of the scheduled early release to make up for lost instructional time.

Staff members who worked partial days on Jan. 28 will be paid for the hours worked, and those who were absent will be excused for the missed day of service, staff said.

The school board unanimously approved the revised calendar.

Memorial Day is listed as a bad-weather makeup day on the adopted 2014-15 LISD calendar, but Champion said staff will ask the board of trustees to change that in the coming weeks.

"We will be bringing the 2014–15 calendar back at a next meeting to make sure we don't have this problem again," he said.