Willoughby Says Ole Man Winter Could Interfere with End of Course Assessments

With the winter break set to start after an abbreviated day Friday and the possibility that DeKalb County Schools might be closed again Thursday, school officials say state mandated end of course assessments may not be administered until January.

Mark Willoughby, Director of Schools, said the state requires students to take those tests on their first day back in the classroom. Willoughby said if schools are back in session Thursday, the exams will be given then. If not, it'll have to be after the holidays "The end of course tests are not school decisions. On our first day back in school, the state says we have to give end of course tests. We have English IX and Algebra II left to give so that means if we're in school tomorrow (Thursday), those students need to come to school ready to take those two tests. Also there'll have to be a makeup day for anybody that misses those tests."

According to Willoughby, the state will not require the tests to be given on Friday, the abbreviated day, should schools be back open then. "We talked with the state Tuesday and they will not make us give those tests on the abbreviated day on Friday. But if we show up Thursday for a full day or two hours late or whatever, we have to give those end of course tests. Assuming the worst and we can't go at all this week, we will have to consult with the state and hopefully we will not have to give those tests on the first day back in January. We would hope they would be a little lenient on that and give us a few days after we get back."

As far as the regular final exams, Willoughby said a decision on those is left up to the schools." The finals that our schools have scheduled, those can be a school decision on what they're going to do about finals. One option is to take the first nine weeks grades and the second nine weeks grades and average them together to get the final grades, but that's a school decision."

Meanwhile with the unexpected December winter weather, the allotted snow days in the school calendar is already beginning to dwindle. Willoughby said DeKalb County Schools have already been closed three days this week with seven snow days remaining and two stockpiled days. "We have ten days built into the calendar and three stock piled days. We have already used up one stock piled day (November 2nd) with two of those remaining, January 3rd and March 18th. If we did not have any stock piled days then we would have thirteen snow days."

Willoughby explained that on stockpiled days, students are out of school but teachers attend for staff development. "Several years ago, school systems, including DeKalb County, started extending the school day in order to build up to thirteen additional days, which could be taken off for inclement weather. Most school systems chose to do that, therefore they wouldn't have to make up those days at the end of the year. By choosing to do that, school systems could take a stockpile day as one of those thirteen days for staff development where we work with teachers on new teaching strategies, training, and things like that. We scheduled three stock piled days this school year."

Medigap law change Eligibility has expanded for TennCare disenrollees

The Department of Commerce and Insurance (TDCI) wants Tennessee insurance consumers to be aware of changes in the law relating to the regulation of the sale of Medicare Supplement insurance products ("Medigap") in this state. This week it has posted a bulletin addressing eligibility expansions for the State-required offer of Medigap policies to persons under 65 eligible for Medicare due to disability or end-stage renal disease (ESRD).

“Beginning January 1, 2011, as a result of an amendment to State law,” says TDCI Commissioner Leslie A. Newman, “insurance carriers who offer Medigap plans to individuals 65 and older must also offer those same plans to eligible individuals under 65. “An individual under 65 must be eligible for Medicare due to a disability or end-stage renal disease (ESRD) to enjoy this expanded mandated offering of coverage,” she says.

Pursuant to the 2010 Tennessee Public Acts, Chapter 978, the following persons are eligible for a six-month open enrollment period under the new law:

•A person who has been enrolled in Medicare Part B since before January 1, 2011, will have until June 30, 2011 to purchase a policy;

•A person who becomes enrolled in Medicare Part B after January 1, 2011, will have six months from the date of enrollment to purchase a policy;

•A person who becomes retroactively enrolled in Medicare Part B due to a retroactive eligibility decision made by the Social Security Administration will have six months from the date of the notice of retroactive enrollment to purchase a policy;

•A person who loses access to alternative forms of health insurance coverage such as accident and sickness policies, employer-sponsored group health coverage or Medicare Advantage plans due to termination or cancellation of such coverage because of the individual's employment status, or due to an action by a health insurer or employer that is unrelated to the individual's status, conduct, or failure to pay premiums will have six months from the date of loss of that coverage to purchase a policy; or

•A person who is involuntarily disenrolled from Title XIX (Medicaid) or Title XXI (State Children's Health Insurance Program) of the Social Security Act will have six months from the date of disenrollment to purchase a policy.

The bulletin can be found on the Insurance Division web page at http://tennessee.gov/
commerce/insurance/documents/120110.pdf. Consumers with questions should contact the TDCI Insurance Division at 615-741-2176, www.tn.gov/commerce/insurance/ or by mailing correspondence to:

TDCI Insurance Division, Fourth Floor
Davy Crockett Tower, Fourth Floor,
500 James Robertson Parkway
Nashville, TN 37243

The Department of Commerce and Insurance works to protect consumers while ensuring fair competition for industries and professionals who do business in Tennessee. www.tn.gov/commerce/