Spring ISD will use a waiver granted by Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath to make up last week’s flood-related school closures. The hours will come from the waiver—worth three school days—an inclement weather day, extra minutes of instruction already completed and time gained by extending an early release day.

Because the district has a surplus of instructional time built into its school year, the school year will not extend past May 27, the district announced Tuesday.

Schools in the district were closed April 18-22 due to heavy rainfall and flooding in the area.

“The new state law is based on how many minutes students are in school, not on the number of days they attend, allowing districts greater flexibility in how they develop their academic calendars,” said Dr. Lupita Hinojosa, Spring ISD chief academics officer, in a district press release.

Students in the district attend school 435 minutes per day during a 175-day school year, giving the district an additional 525 minutes at the end of the year above the minimum required by the state. That time, combined with the addition of a full day instead of an early-release day on April 27, and using the district’s built-in inclement weather day on May 27, will allow the district to meet state instructional requirements without extending the school year, Hinojosa said.

Schools are required to provide 420 instructional minutes per day, Communications Director Karen Garrison said.

A "frequently asked questions" page has been added to the district web site, www.springisd.org, to address parent concerns.

The flooding did not damage the district schools and facilities, Garrison said.

“Minor issues that have already been repaired include some wet carpet inside doorways and roof leaks in temporary buildings that were minimal,” Garrison said. “There were no roof leaks in our permanent facilities.”

Garrison said individual campuses will reschedule activities and events that were canceled last week.