Woodlawn Only Had 8 Full School Days From December 24, 1998-January 24, 1999
Krista had provided me with the following Woodlawn schedule from late 1998-early 1999. I’ve filled in a few facts that we know, such as Woodlawn’s wrestling match against Randallstown on January 5, 1999. As we learn more facts, we might be able to flesh out this schedule even more. This schedule is interesting because we have several people who have memories of seeing Hae Min Lee and/or Adnan Syed on certain days, and this schedule shows the days when these encounters could (and couldn’t) have occurred:
Wednesday, 12/23/98: Full day of school
Thursday, 12/24/98: Winter break
Friday, 12/25/98: Winter break
Saturday, 12/26/98: Winter break
Sunday, 12/27/98: Winter break
Monday, 12/28/98: Winter break
Tuesday, 12/29/98: Winter break
Wednesday, 12/30/98: Winter break
Thursday, 12/31/98: Winter break
Friday, 1/1/99: Winter break
Saturday, 1/2/99: Winter break
Sunday, 1/3/99: Winter break
Monday, 1/4/99: Full day of school, Adnan is absent
Tuesday, 1/5/99: Full day of schoolwrestling match at Randallstown; Woodlawn track meet at Fifth Regiment Armory; Adnan tardy to school
Wednesday, 1/6/99: Full day of school
Thursday, 1/7/99: Full day of school
Friday, 1/8/99: Snow day; school closed
Saturday, 1/9/99: Weekend; no school
Sunday, 1/10/99: Weekend; no school
Monday, 1/11/99: Full day of schoolvisiting hurdlers from Randallstown High School
Tuesday, 1/12/99: Full day of schoolwrestling match at Loch Raven; Woodlawn competes at the Baltimore County Relays in track; Adnan tardy to school
Wednesday, 1/13/99: Full day of school
Thursday, 1/14/99: Snow day; school closed
Friday, 1/15/99: Snow day; school closed; Woodlawn track meet at Fifth Regiment Armory (presumably cancelled)
Saturday, 1/16/99: Weekend; no school; Woodlawn wrestling match against Manchester; Woodlawn at 37th National Guard track meet
Sunday, 1/17/99: Weekend; no school
Monday, 1/18/99: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day; no school
Tuesday, 1/19/99: Full day of school
Wednesday, 1/20/99: Exams for Periods 1 & 3; half-day with school getting out early
Thursday, 1/21/99: Exams for Periods 2 & 4; half-day with school getting out early
Friday, 1/22/99: End of semester; no school
Saturday, 1/23/99: Weekend; no school
Sunday, 1/24/99: Weekend, no school
Monday, 1/25/99: Full day of schooltrack meet at Fifth Regiment Armory
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A few thoughts:
1. As you can see, for the month between December 24, 1998 and January 24, 1998, there were only eight full days of school. Hae was in attendance for seven of those days (obviously, she wasn’t in school on January 19, 1999). Adnan was in attendance for six of those days (absent two days from January 4-7, 1999 [Update: absent January 4th and 6th]) [Update: Adnan was only in attendance five of those days because he was absent on January 19th)]. Hae and Adnan were both in school for five of those days (January 11-13, 1999 and the two days they were both in school from January 4-7, 1999).
2. The reason for Krista highlighting this information was to show that “many people who weren’t close to [Hae] may not have realized that she was truly missing.” As you can see, there was only one “regular” day of school between Hae’s disappearance on January 13, 1999 and January 25, 1999.
3. As I’ve said, we have several people with recollections of seeing Hae and Adnan on certain days, such as Becky, Summer, Inez, Debbie, Asia, and Coach Sye. By referencing the above schedule, we can see the days when these encounters could (and couldn’t) have occurred. For instance, let’s take Debbie.
Debbie remembers seeing Adnan at the guidance counselor’s office after school. According to Debbie, Adnan had his gym bag with his track stuff, and they talked briefly about school and Adnan going to track practice. Debbie is initially positive that she saw Adnan on January 13, 1999, but she later says that it “could have been the day before or the day after.”
Looking at the above schedule, however, we know that it couldn’t have been the day before or the day after, assuming that Debbie accurately remembers talking with Adnan about going to track practice. This encounter couldn’t have been the day after because the day after was a snow day. In fact, if Debbie is remembering a day after January 13th, the earliest day she could be remembering is a day six days later: January 19th, the next day that school was held. [Update: Adnan was absent on January 19th] And if Debbie’s not remembering January 19th, the next day she can be remembering is January 25th (another six days later) because there were no full school days between the 19th and 25th.*
We also know that this encounter couldn’t have been the day before because Woodlawn competed at the Baltimore County Relays on January 12th, meaning that there was no track practice that day. So, if Debbie is thinking about a day before January 13th, the latest day she could be remembering is January 11th. If Debbie isn’t remembering January 11th, the next latest day she could be remembering is January 7th, six days before January 13th.
Now, let’s dig even deeper. Debbie remembers seeing Adnan at the guidance counselor’s office and then seeing Hae as she was about to leave to pick up her cousin and go to a sporting event at another school. If Debbie is accurately remembering seeing Hae and Adnan on the same day and the nature of their conversations, she obviously can’t be remembering January 19th or January 25th. If you believe that there was no Woodlawn wrestling match on January 13, 1999, Debbie likely can’t be remembering that day either.** The same goes for Summer and Inez, both of whom remember seeing Hae on the day of a Woodlawn wrestling match.
So, are any of these individuals correct that they saw Hae and/or Adnan on January 13, 1999? Maybe, maybe not. If not, we have an ever shrinking number of days on which these encounters could have occurred.
[Update: In Debbie’s statement about seeing Adnan at the guidance counselor’s office on January 13, 1999, she states that she remembers Adnan being tardy:
As you can see below, Adnan was not marked as tardy on January 13th but was marked as tardy on January 5th and January 12th, the dates of two Woodlawn away wrestling matches. Given that Debbie remembers seeing Hae about to leave to pick up her cousin and attend a sporting event at another school after she saw Adnan on January 13th, you have to wonder whether she was remembering either of these other days.***]
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*Debbie remembers seeing Adnan after the announcements at the end of school. I’m guessing this rules out the half-day exam days. Krista can’t remember whether sports practices were held on exam days.
**This is why I have speculated that Debbie could be remembering January 5, 1999, the day of the Randallstown wrestling match.
***Of course, for either of these days to be correct, Adnan would have been on his way to track meets, not track practices.
Update: Here are Adnan’s absences:
-CM