An unplanned snow day has curtailed a planned day off for the staff and students of the Jefferson city school system.

During Thursday’s school board meeting, the group voted to adjust the current school calendar in order to make up for the day of school that was missed March 2 because of a snow storm.

So instead of being at home today, staff and students will be in school. Since teachers lost today as a planning day, they will get an additional post-planning day on May 28.

The board also received an update about the school system’s finances from system Superintendent John Jackson.

"Due to some belt tightening and doing without some of the things that we wanted, we anticipate (coming in under budget with our expenses) by around $500,000," Jackson told the group.

The board also was given an update about the school system’s transportation department. According to staff reports, the system may gain an additional 20 bus riders from the Jackson County school system next school year. The new riders live on property that recently was annexed from the county to the city. This news comes at a time when the Jefferson school system already has had to add more bus routes to accommodate an unexpected surge in riders.

Sherrie Gibney-Sherman, associate superintendent of instructional services, also briefed the board on the local results of the eighth-grade writing test that all Georgia students are required to take.

"The performance of our eighth-grade students on the winter writing test was above the RESA and state mean scores in all test areas," Gibney-Sherman said. "They were also above the state in all test areas in the meets and exceeds performance levels."

According to staff reports, 90 percent of students passed the writing exam. The state average for passing students only is 75 percent.