Fayette County has had many Non-Traditional Instruction days (NTI) in January due to a winter storm that blew into Kentucky on the fifth of January. NTI provides an easy alternative for students and staff when there are unsafe conditions. Due to state legislation, Fayette County public schools are limited to 10 NTI days each year.

One pro of NTI days is that they do not add days to the end of the school year. Since the last day of the school year is already later in May, many students do not want to have to go to school in June because of a snow day.

Another pro of an NTI day is that it gives students free time after they finish their assignments. They can hang out with their friends or spend time with their family instead of spending all day at school. Many students need time to decompress after school, which would not leave much time for their families or friends. NTI days give Lafayette students the freedom to be teenagers and enjoy their day after completing assignments for their classes.

NTI days also allow students to sleep in and obtain a full 8 hours of sleep. Getting enough sleep is important because it can help lower stress levels, which is common in teenagers and adults. Many students do not get enough sleep and many of them will not go to bed early because they are on their phones or watching TV instead of sleeping. NTI days give students the opportunity to have a full night of sleep.

The main reason for NTI days is that they provide safety during winter weather and other situations while still providing educational opportunities for students. An NTI day may be used for other situations, such as severe weather or illness, but it is mainly used for snow or other wintery precipitation.

The Times talked to Shelena Brown, a French teacher at Lafayette High School, about what she thinks is good about NTI days. She stated, “One bad part of having NTI days is that teachers do not have access to help students if they need it. A pro of NTI days is being able to stay home, especially during bad weather when no one wants to leave their home.”

One con of having NTI days is that some teachers assign a lot of work for students to complete and may even assign brand-new content. Students who receive a lot of work that they haven’t learned before may find themselves overwhelmed and stressed, which may lead to uncompleted work and missing assignments in the grade book.

Another con of NTI days is that power outages may occur if the storm is bad enough and this could be a problem for students trying to complete their NTI work. Some students do not charge their Chromebooks at home; even if they do, there might not be internet to do their classwork.

FCPS will typically call a snow day for days like this, where there is no power in some places in the city but there are only four snow days built into the school year. When these four built-in days are used and the 10 NTI days, then we may have to add days to the end of the year. .

During NTI days some students refuse to complete their assignments within the three days after the return to school or before the assignment is locked in Canvas. Some students see their assignments as not important or they treat NTI days as snow days.

The last con of an NTI day is that grades may be affected when assignments are not completed. Complement assignments also affect attendance because there is no other way to take attendance for NTI days. Students who participate by completing assignments, contacting a teacher through email or Canvas, or joining a Zoom teacher for office hours are counted as present.

Dr. Demetrius Liggins has recently experienced some backlash from the number of NTI and snow days that Fayette County has had. Many parents were upset that students were still out of school after winter break was supposed to be over. Some parents were unhappy when students returned to school because of the ice and snow on the roads.

Some would say that these NTI days are a good thing for schools to have because they benefit the students. Others would say that NTI days keep students from learning because they aren’t at school.

Fayette County Public Schools will continue to use these NTI days in place of snow days to keep students learning from home as needed.