The State Education Department (SED) has released a memo concerning the impact of inclement weather on the administration of the January Regents Examinations.

The memo gives detailed information on how to proceed in the event of weather-related cancellation of exams. 
 
The SED memo follows; a PDF version is also available for download.

January 2009

To: District Superintendents of Schools Superintendents of Public Schools Principals of Public, Nonpublic and Charter High Schools

From: David Abrams

Subject: The Impact of Inclement Weather on State Examinations

As we begin the January 2009 Regents Examination period, we have received some questions about the possibility of inclement weather interfering with the administration of examinations in schools. Some school and district officials have expressed concern about the possibility of having to close on Wednesday, January 28, in particular.

During the January Regents Examination period, superintendents should follow normal procedures in determining whether school should be closed due to inclement weather. Schools may not administer State examinations when weather conditions are severe enough to warrant closing school and canceling normal bus transportation.

If a school is closed and unable to administer State examinations in January because of inclement weather, the district is asked to notify the BOCES district superintendent of the date(s) of closing, any examination(s) that were canceled, and the approximate number of affected students.

The Department makes its required secondary-level State examinations available to students three times per year. Students who are unable to take any of the January 2009 examinations will be able to make up those examinations during the June 2009 Regents Examination period. In addition, some students (juniors and seniors for Mathematics A and seniors for Comprehensive English) may be eligible for the Component Retests.

Please be advised that students who take Session One of the Regents Comprehensive Examination in English on Tuesday, January 27, but who are unable to take Session Two on Wednesday, January 28, because of a weather-related cancellation cannot be given an official examination score for the January administration. However, those students' Session One answer papers must be scored and can be used in determining a student's eligibility for the May 2009 Component Retest in Comprehensive English. This partial January administration may be counted as one of the two administrations of the test in which a senior must have participated in order to be eligible for Component Retesting. In the near future, special eligibility rules and detailed instructions for this situation will be provided to schools in any affected regions of the state.

With the permission of their schools, students may also take Department-approved alternative examinations in lieu of Regents Examinations and Regents Competency Tests. The list of Department-approved alternatives to Regents Examinations and Regents Competency Tests may be found, respectively, at:

http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/osa/sam/secondary/sam08-s07/section7.html#appendix1

http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/osa/sam/secondary/sam08-s07/section7b.html#appendix2.

If you have questions on this or any other testing matter, you may send them to us at: emscassessinfo@mail.nysed.gov. Thank you for your ongoing cooperation in the administration of State examinations.