The Gainesville City Board of Education has decided to use a snow day as a replacement for a state-mandated furlough day.

On March 2, the school system was closed because of winter weather. Instead of that day being counted as a snow day, the board voted during Monday’s meeting to use that date as a replacement for a planned May 27 furlough day. The change will allow system staff to have an extra day of post-planning that had been previously canceled.

The group also approved bids for roofs for Wood’s Mill Academy and Enota Multiple Intelligences Academy.

“We’ve been talking about this for a while,” said David Syfan, board chairman. “This is something that we really needed to get done.”

During the meeting, the school board discussed the possibility of hosting summer camp programs at New Holland and Fair Street elementary schools for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Hall County and the Gainesville Parks and Recreation Department. It was also recommended that all other school locations have a four-day, 10-hour work week during the summer as a way to reduce energy usage costs. A formal presentation about the proposed summer programs and operation schedules will be made to the board during a future board meeting.

Superintendent Merrianne Dyer also told the board that there was money available if any board member was interested in attending the June Georgia School Board Association conference in Savannah.

“Gainesville City Schools hasn’t been represented at the conference for the last two years,” Dyer said. “We have some professional learning money available this year if one or two people would like to attend.”

Dyer said the conference is important because board members have the opportunity to complete various training courses and to also learn about legislative issues that could affect local school boards.

The board also announced a special, called meeting at 11 a.m. March 30 to discuss the results of the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test erasure analysis.