AMI Days & Weather Work

Attention parents and students, this news is snow-mazing!

Cabot Public Schools is pleased to announce that we have been approved to use five Alternative Methods of Instruction Days, or AMI Days, for the 2017-2018 school year. So, what are AMI Days and what does that mean for your student?

If school is cancelled, for example due to inclement weather or an emergency, students will not have to make up the day. Instead, students will be sent home “Weather Work” that can be completed on paper or electronically. Your student's teacher will communicate with you how the “Weather Work” will be assigned.

Now we understand if it's snowing, kids want to play in the snow. So students will have at least 5 days, starting from the first day school is back in session, to complete the assignment. If we miss more than one day, the amount of time to complete the assignment will be adjusted.

In order for students to be counted “present” for the day, they must submit their “Weather Work” to their teacher by the due date. 

If a school day is cancelled and declared an AMI Day, then the snow days built into the calendar will not be utilized for make up days and this will help prevent us from adding school days on to the end of the year.

We feel fortunate we are able to provide this new opportunity for our families. The Arkansas Department of Education has granted us this waiver. We are one of 121 districts across the state approved to use AMI Days.

We know it will be a work in progress and there will still be questions. We also want parents, students, staff, and our community to understand that we can't take advantage of these AMI Days. Superintendent Dr. Thurman will use the same criteria as in the past when deciding if school should be closed. If it is not safe in any part of the district (remember, we encompass the cities of Cabot, Austin, and Ward) then we'll close school. We will not risk the safety of any of our students and staff. Some days it will be tricky though to decide if school should be in session or not and you may want us to just go ahead and close since we have AMI Days available. However, you have to remember there are families in our district that rely on us to be open unless it is absolutely necessary to close. Many parents need to go to work and child care may not be readily accessible. If we feel it's safe and we can go to school, we will go to school. 

In the end, we'll do what's best for our children and we feel having the option to use AMI Days when it's necessary, will prevent us from adding on days to the school year.

Click HERE for Frequently Asked Questions for Parents/Students