During the Fall of 2025, Fayette County Public Schools introduced the idea of having no use of non-traditional instruction (NTI) days due to financial and instructional issues.
According to an article published by FCPS, NTI was removed because each day they were losing $150,000 per NTI day as they were still required to pay staff laborers, although no students were showing up to school.
Frederick Douglass High School Principal, Lester Diaz, elaborates on the issue and how it affects schools financially.
“NTI puts a strain on the general funds,” Diaz mentions, “It’s a monetary budget consideration.”
They also concluded that NTI was generally not as educational as a full learning day, as no new content can be introduced during these days.
However, during recent discussion between the Fayette County Public School Board and the Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council, it was reconsidered to bring back NTI days due to numerous reasons.
“NTI allows us to continue to learn content and work on schoolwork before we have to test for KSA,” Diaz adds. “So if we have snow days and extend the school year, the learning is taking place after KSA, verses the learning taking place before the Kentucky Summit of Assessment.”
Along with this, the board concluded that the costs for food services during NTI would be similar to the cost of regular snow days, and students who have test exams that are unchangeable may not receive enough preparation through missing school days.
Some students have expressed their opinions about this new change such as Kennedy Hayden, who believes NTI days are not beneficial to students overall.
“I prefer snow days because you don’t have to do anything… NTI days add stress, and whenever we have questions teachers can’t always be available to answer them.”
FDHS student Stella Lashbrook explains that technical difficulties are what holds her back.
“I was doing my NTI work one day, and I had a power outage,” Stella explains. “I couldn’t do my work, and I got an F on my assignment because I couldn’t even email my teachers.”
Despite the opinions of students who prefer snow days, many also believe that NTI days are extremely helpful when school isn’t accessible due to the harsh weather conditions.
“NTI definitely prevents us from staying longer than we need to towards the end of the school year,” FDHS junior Joseph Martinez emphasizes, “And although we don’t get the same education we would if we came in person, we still don’t fall behind in the unit or curriculum.”
Although different students have different opinions about this topic, NTI will continue to be held through harsh weather conditions beginning during the 2nd Semester of the 2025-26 school year.
However, snow days will still be used when necessary, as non-traditional instruction days won’t be our only option when this weather occurs.
“Sometimes you just have to be safe and use a regular snow day, and then sometimes you have to use NTI days so you don’t get too far behind and have to extend the school year,” Principal Diaz finishes. “So I think there needs to be a little bit of balance.”