About 70,000 OCPS students missed last Hurricane makeup day, statistics show

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — About 70,000 Orange County students missed school on the last Hurricane makeup day before Thanksgiving, according to school district statistics.

Weeks after Hurricane Irma canceled classes, Orange County students were called back to school on November 20th as one of two make up days.

But new numbers show thousands didn’t show up for school that day, including Anthony Ngo’s kindergartener at Hillcrest Elementary.

“We've already had plans set and then they put in a date when you can change them but it's really inconvenient to do,” said Ngo.

Students were initially scheduled to be off the entire week of Thanksgiving until the district announced the Monday before it would be a makeup day.

“For a holiday week, that is kind of an annoyance for a parent, especially if you’re traveling,” said Jamie Cummings, the parent of an OCPS student.

The school district doesn’t officially track why students didn’t show up.

The school calendar with the Monday before Thanksgiving listed as a makeup day was formed by a committee of about 50 community members, who also list and prioritize potential makeup days.

Spokesman Scott Howat said the group has to juggle a lot of factors, like testing dates and making sure at least 900 hours of class time is offered, but the high no-show rate is concerning.

“I'm sure that it'll be reviewed by the calendar committee when they meet again and they'll determine, based on that data, whether that make up day works or whether we want to look at some other days,” said Howat.

The second makeup day was a Oct. 27 and statistics show about 16,000 students were absent then, which district numbers show is about average.

Cox Media Group