Morgan V. Polk County Board Thesis

Total Length: 732 words ( 2 double-spaced pages)

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Issues: Did the Board's actions contravene W.S. § 21-4-301 and 21-13-307(a)(ii)? Did the Board have statutory and common law authority to implement alternative scheduling? Did the Board have statutory or common law justification for violation of the Wyoming Education Code? Did the Board's actions violate equal protection?

Reasoning: The Court was not required to investigate the merits of the proposed program, because whether or not the program was legal was not related to its legality. W.S. § 21-4-301 mandates that each school district "shall operate its schools and classes for a minimum of one hundred seventy-five (175) days each school year." W.S. § 21-13-307(a)(ii) directs that school districts operating for 180 days or more are entitled to share in funds from the foundation account.

Analysis: The extended day program would have shortened the school term to less than 175 days, which would have violated W.S. § 21-4-301, and would have made the district ineligible for funding under W.S. § 21-13-207.

Conclusion: The Court reversed and remanded the trial court's decision and held that the district's practice of compressing the school week into four days violated the state law requiring the school year to be 175 days.

Discussion: While both of these cases discussed individual school districts altering their schedules outside of the number of days prescribed by state statutes, they had different outcomes.
In the Wyoming case, the school district attempted to shorten the school week, by increasing the number of hours students would be in school each day. However, the Wyoming statute explicitly required a 175-day school term, and was not concerned with the number of total hours that students were in class. In North Carolina, the extended term and extended days did not violate the statute in question, because the term met the statutory minimum. As a result, it seems that school boards can give their students greater benefits than those required by law, but not fewer benefits than required by law......

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"Morgan V Polk County Board", 05 November 2009, Accessed.5 June. 2026,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/morgan-polk-county-board-17824