Buncombe County Schools exceed state remote learning cap; Feb. 23 optional workday

Buncombe County Schools told families Monday that the district has used all five remote learning days permitted under North Carolina state calendar law, and therefore the countywide closure for overnight snowfall on Feb. 23, 2026 was classified as an Optional Teacher Workday and will not count toward required instructional hours. The district’s message said the decision was driven by safety concerns for “bus riders, teen drivers, parents, and staff members.”

The district opened its announcement with safety details and the remote learning cap. Buncombe County Schools said, “Due to overnight snowfall impacting travel all across the county and temperatures expected to stay well below freezing throughout the day, for the safety of our bus riders, teen drivers, parents, and staff members, all Buncombe County Schools will be closed today, Monday, Feb. 23, 2026.” The message continued, “As we have shared, state calendar law limits the school system to only 5 remote learning days per school year. We have used all of those days. Therefore, today is not a remote learning day for students. It will be an Optional Teacher Workday.”

Because the district marked Feb. 23 as an Optional Teacher Workday rather than a remote learning day, the closure does not contribute to the district’s required instructional hours for the school year. WLOS reported that this development leaves parents rearranging work and childcare plans, with local coverage noting parents are “adjusting schedules again” after multiple winter disruptions.

This winter’s pattern includes an earlier Remote Learning/Optional Teacher Workday on Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, when Buncombe County Schools said it was operating remotely due to “widespread travel impacts across the region.” That Feb. 2 message spelled out operational expectations: “Teachers will post assignments in learning management systems by 10 am Monday, or may have sent paper packets home with students. Students will have up to 5 school days to complete assignments, and once they do, students will be counted present for the day/class period.” The district did not attach similar student-instruction guidance to the Feb. 23 Optional Teacher Workday message.

Regional weather alerts accompanied the district closure announcement. WLOS page elements displayed a Winter Storm Warning in effect until 5 AM Tuesday for Avery County and above 3,500 feet in Mitchell County, and Winter Weather Advisories until 5 AM Tuesday for Haywood, Madison, Yancey, and parts of Mitchell and Swain counties. Buncombe’s message cited both the overnight snowfall and forecasts of prolonged subfreezing temperatures as the reasons for closing schools.

Buncombe County Schools issued the Feb. 23 notice in both English and Spanish; the Spanish message began, “Buenos días, familias de BCS,” and repeated the same safety rationale and the note that the district had used all five state-allowed remote learning days. The district’s communications did not include any immediate plan for calendar changes, makeup days, or a request for state exceptions, and no change to the academic calendar was announced in the Feb. 23 message.

With winter weather continuing to affect travel across western North Carolina, families and employers in Buncombe County are left managing another unscheduled day that will not count as instructional time, while the district and state authorities have not yet outlined whether any calendar adjustments will follow.