The extra hours of sleep gained from two hour delays and snow days are being felt by the Oakton High School community due to changes in scheduling to make up for lost hours of school. Even though Fairfax County built in 12 snow days for the 2014-2015 school year, Oakton only has nine built in. “Collaboration Wednesday’s use about 28 hours which is roughly four days of school” said Dr. John Banbury, Oakton’s principal. Because collaboration is not something that all of Fairfax County schools do , those four days missed meant that the ten snow days had this winter cut back on the required hours.

Snow days are not the only thing away eating away at the hours because the delays are causing issues as well.

“All these two hour delays, those count too,” said Banbury,”when you start adding those up, it goes quick.”

To make up these missing hours, Oakton’s administration is awaiting an email from the county with a plan to make up the seven hours Oakton is missing. Banbury would prefer not to have to cancel the rest of the Collaboration Wednesdays but it may be the best solution.

“If something doesn’t give at the county level by the end of next week, there is a good chance I will cancel the rest of [the Collaboration Wednesday’s]; there [are] five left,” Banbury said.

Taking those last five collaborations away gives the school five hours, leaving Oakton with two more hours to make up. Currently, the plan  to make up those hours is to make the new Exhibition of Learning date, April 10, a full day instead of a two hour early release, which later Assistant Principal Colleen Eddy confirmed. This decision adds two extra hours and if the last five Collaboration days are cancelled this would make up the time Oakton has lost from all the cancellations and delays.

The good news for snow days and delays next year is that Oakton will have all 12 snow days built in, this is because there will be no Collaboration Wednesdays next year.

Even though this Wednesday, March 10, was collaboration, the next several Wednesdays have not yet been decided if they will stay Collaboration Wednesdays or if they will be full days; it all depends on what the county decides to do.

This option of cancelling Collaboration Wednesdays is one of several solutions, and  the one Banbury views as the best solution for students.

“I [would] rather you guys not have to come in on a Saturday or until the Fourth of July or whatever plan we come up with,” Banbury said.

With new start times to begin at the start of the 2015-2016 school year, Wednesday could have been the last Collaboration Wednesday ever to happen at Oakton.