Snow days could keep Kansas City area students in school past Memorial Day 2025
Students, teachers and parents in the Kansas City area have endured scrambled school schedules so far in 2025.
Between a record-breaking week of snow shortly after winter break, morning ice in early February and another winter storm expected to hit Wednesday, Feb. 12, area school districts are running out of their scheduled snow days.
When it comes to inclement weather days, virtual days or AMI (alternative methods of instruction) days, rules about school calendars vary by state.
Currently in Missouri, school districts must provide 1,044 hours of instruction, or approximately 166 days, per school year. Some districts build in snow days to their calendar, while others opt to use up to 36 virtual learning hours instead. The state caps the number of weather makeup days at 10, forgiving any above that cap.
In Kansas, school districts must provide 1,116 hours of instruction, or approximately 177 days, with a maximum of 40 virtual learning hours. The state caps the number of makeup days at five.
Here are the current plans and adjusted calendars for six Kansas City area school districts.
Kansas City Public Schools and Blue Valley School District have not responded yet to The Star’s requests for scheduling information.
Missouri
North Kansas City School District — The district has used their six inclement weather days for the year, according to their website. If needed, students could go back to class May 27-29 during the scheduled make-up days, which is after Memorial Day.
Lee’s Summit School District — Any additional inclement weather days will be tacked on to the end of the school year, after using their five AMI days and one traditional snow day. After canceling school Feb. 5 due to ice, the district announced they would have to push the last day of school. The new last day of school is Tuesday, May 27, 2025, though this could change with future weather days.
Grain Valley Schools — The district surveyed families, who said they would prefer to make up snow days before Memorial Day instead of after, according to spokesperson Hannah Shackles. Students will be in school on President’s Day, Feb. 17, and the next two snow days would be made up the Friday before and Monday after Easter: April 18 and 21.
Kansas
Olathe Public Schools — The district has used 3.5 of its four built-in weather days for the school year, according to spokesperson Erin Schulte. If more snow comes, officials could add 5-10 minutes to the school day to meet state requirements for instruction time, wrote Schulte.
Shawnee Mission School District — The Johnson County district has used its four built-in snow days for this school year, according to spokesperson David A. Smith. He said the district could cancel school four more times without making up days, because, he said, state of Kansas would forgive up to four additional snow days. Any more than that, the district might have to add instruction days to the end of the school year.
Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools — Because of weather, high school students are staying an extra 10 minutes each day, while elementary and middle school schedules stay the same, said spokesperson Edwin Birch. The district has used their four allotted inclement weather days, and additional bad weather could tack on days to the end of the school year or lengthen the school day, Birch said.
Have more questions about schools in Kansas and Missouri? Ask the Service Journalism team at kcq@kcstar.com.
This story was originally published February 11, 2025 at 4:23 PM.
