Canutillo ISD students have day off for Pope Francis visit
The Canutillo Independent School District voted Monday night to give its students the day off for the pope’s visit.
ABC-7 reported last month CISD would not be giving its students the day off. Clint ISD is also keeping students in school, while the majority of other schools districts are allowing students the vacation. But after Monday’s meeting that has all changed.
When the board voted on the item in January, it didn’t want to interrupt the President’s Day vacation on Monday, Feb. 15 to give them Wednesday, Feb. 17 off.
The board was under the assumption that if enough students missed school on that Wednesday, the district could apply for a waiver from the state. Trustees learned Monday night, the state will not waive a large number of absences for the pope’s visit.
The state pays Canutillo about $33 per student, according to district spokesperson Shane Griffith. If a majority of students don’t attend school that day, it would cost the district a lot of money. To avoid that, trustees agreed to give students both that Monday and Wednesday off:
“In order to accommodate the state law that governs all school districts across Texas, we’re going to add seven minutes to our elementary school schedule for 66 days, beginning toward the end of this month,” Griffith said. “It is a very minor adjustment. Children really wont be able to notice it, and it won’t have any impact toward our transportation schedules.”
That leaves Tuesday in between. The district is stressing students attend school that day, because if they don’t, it will be a big loss in state funding for the district.
