As snow and ice close schools again and again, makeup days become district burdens
Blue Valley school administrators had a plan all figured out to make up for the litany of snow days this year and start summer vacation before Memorial Day.
“(Memorial Day is) a time that our families and the school district prefer,” said Kristi McNerlin, the district’s chief communication officer. “That’s our goal.”
So earlier this month district officials announced that students would attend school on a teachers-only training day, and they added 10 minutes to the day for high schoolers and five minutes for other grades.
But then on Wednesday, for the second time since the plan was announced Feb. 12, bad weather prompted the district to cancel classes — the seventh closing this school year.
Now the school board must meet Thursday to adjust the school calendar again, changes that could be announced by the end of the week.
And that doesn’t take into account the National Weather Service forecast for the coming days: snow this weekend and “brutally cold,” below-zero wind chills on Monday.
As ice and snow continue to barrage the area, school districts face an unprecedented number of cancellations — and the challenge of how to make up missed time.
“This is the most we have ever had in the memory of anyone here,” said David Smith, spokesman for the Shawnee Mission school district, where school has been canceled eight times.
“I can tell you that we have definitely exceeded the number of weather-related cancellations compared to previous years going back at least to the 2014-2015 academic year,” said Kansas City Public Schools spokesman Ray Weikal. So far, the district has closed schools 10 times, and the school year has been extended to June 3 — for now.
Last year, Lee’s Summit spokeswoman Kelly Wachel pointed out, the district’s final snow day was Jan. 22. “It wasn’t this many,” Wachel said. “We’re having an abnormal amount of snow days this year.”
How that time is made up depends on what side of the state line you live on, and how many snow days were already built into school calendars.
In Kansas, schools can add minutes to their school day, but state requirements for classroom time vary by grade.
Olathe parents received word this week that while elementary and middle school students won’t have to make up days, high school students will.
High schoolers will have to return from spring break a day early: They’ll be required to attend classes on Monday, March 18, when elementary and middle school students have off for a teacher training day. And starting that day, classes will start 10 minutes earlier, at 7:50 a.m.
To make up for the six canceled days, the district has also eliminated a late start on Thursdays for high schoolers and turned their half day of class on May 22 into a full day. But Wednesday’s closing could mean more changes to come.
“Today’s cancellation will impact the plan for high schoolers, but we are currently studying our options,” spokeswoman Maggie Kolb said Wednesday.
Shawnee Mission may have incorporated enough snow days into its calendar that it won’t have to tack on time. “As of right now, we do not believe we will need to add days/minutes,” Smith said. “But we are still in the process of doing our calculations.”
Kansas City, Kan., school officials did not provide information to The Star on Wednesday on any calendar changes.
The issue of making up missed time is only exacerbated in Missouri, where state law measures classroom time in days, not minutes, as Kansas does. The number of makeup days depends on how many snow days were built into the calendar.
Kansas City Public Schools must make up nine of 10 canceled days so far, Weikal said.
Lee’s Summit also has closed school 10 times, but must make up eight of those days, said Wachel. Currently, the last day of school is scheduled for May 30, three days after Memorial Day.
But she said she and other Missouri school officials are looking forward to next school year, when state laws will allow for more flexibility so districts can add minutes instead of full days.
Some area districts, including Shawnee Mission, say they won’t confirm the last day of school until after spring break in March. By then, they hope, winter will finally be over.
This story was originally published February 28, 2019 at 5:30 AM.
