Slew of KC-area snow days taking toll on families, students. Will schools make up lost time?
After Kansas City Public Schools canceled, Edgar Palacios decided to take a snow day, too, to spend time with his daughter.
Instead of rearranging his schedule and reprioritizing projects, he spent the day watching cartoons and snuggling with his 4-year-old.
“Sometimes you have to give in to the fact that it’s cold and snowy outside and you can’t go outside,” Palacios said.
While he and his wife have flexible jobs that allow them to work from home to be with their daughter, the multiple snow days have taken its toll.
“There are projects I’m behind on because of snow days, but there seems to be more grace these days. We’re not that far from COVID, we still remember what it’s like,” Palacios said. “It’s not just me, it’s the team. A good majority of my team has young kids in schools and you have to be thoughtful about the fact that people are trying their best and rightfully prioritizing their kids.”
Palacios’ daughter attends pre-K in Kansas City Public Schools — a district that’s used up all of its snow days and alternative methods of instruction (AMI) days since the students came back from winter break.
Now the district has to make up two school days in order to meet state education requirements, KCPS spokesperson Shain Bergan told the Star.
“I feel for the superintendent because she has to consider the safety of every student and also weigh the instruction. It’s not an easy decision … there’s a lot of additional complications we don’t think about when the district closes down for weather,” Palacios said.
In Missouri, school districts must provide 1,044 hours of instruction, or approximately 166 days per year, with a cap of 36 virtual learning hours per year and 10 weather makeup days. Kansas school districts must provide 1,116 hours of instruction, or approximately 177 days, and allow for a maximum of 40 virtual learning hours and five weather makeup days.
“Leadership will be collaborating with staff and families on what dates might make the most sense for that,” Bergan said in an email.
‘A rough winter’
KCPS isn’t alone in its goal to find ways to make up for the lost instructional time. The entire Kansas City metro has been grappling with cold weather, icy conditions and snow since school was supposed to resume after winter break.
A historic storm rocked Kansas City the first week of January — when students were due back in their classrooms — with 11 inches of snow falling in one night. School districts across the metro delayed their return to the classroom.
This month the temperatures dropped below zero, breaking several daily records including the coldest high temperature.
Olathe Public Schools used six-and-a-half school inclement weather days that impacted instructional hours, spokesperson Erin Schulte said in an email.
“In our district, we started the year with at least four days built into the calendar for all grade levels,” Schulte said.
In the two previous school years, Olathe used three inclement weather days during the 2022-23 school year and six during the 2023-24 school year. This year, the district added an option to have a two-hour delay start, which allows the district to hold school once weather conditions resolve or improve.
“At this time, our district administration will work to look at making up instructional hours,” Schulte said. “Information about making up instructional hours would be communicated directly to Olathe Public Schools staff, families and students first.”
While the schools are still on track to meet educational goals, Olathe is “so excited we were able to welcome back our students today.”
Palacios was excited to take his daughter to school on Friday, too.
“I take her to school every day and we have a routine as well that we don’t get to do during snow days,” he said.
He and his daughter will get to school five to 10 minutes early so she can “enjoy her calm” before the day begins, but snow days have thrown a wrench into their quality time together.
“This feels like the first winter in a long time, this feels like the most snow we’ve ever seen,” Palacios said. “I could be wrong on that, that’s just my experience, it just feels like a rough winter.”
