Brinda Ambal

Are you thoroughly confused about snow days? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. We did the digging for you.

January is nearing its end, and we are already three snow days and one early dismissal in. The question of how many snow days we have left before make-up days are added floats unanswered around school with each possible inclement weather day.
This year is different than past years, in that the state changed the snow day allowance from three school days to meeting a minimum of 1,044 hours of instructional time over the course of the school year.

“I believe the hour-based requirement on school time addressed a concern that each school district has varied hours of instruction. The new policy allows for each school district to formulate their own ways to use hours of instruction,” Dr. Keith Marty, superintendent of Parkway School District said.

Parkway builds in more hours of school than the minimum, which gives us the equivalent of seven full school days for inclement weather before we have to make any up.

“I personally like the hour requirement, as Parkway’s school days (at all levels) exceed the time many other state schools are in attendance. These ‘built in’ hours allow us to use seven snow days without make-up. This is positive for students, staff and families,” Marty said.

The three snow days and one early dismissal totaled to 22 hours of missed instructional time. We still have 30 hours of instructional time left before we have to start making up hours.

“This is the 10th year I’ve been principal here, and I don’t think we’ve ever used more than seven snow days in one year. Usually, we don’t use more than two or three. This allows us a lot of flexibility. We’ve only used three this year, and it is the last week of January. Usually December and January are the months that are really bad, so I think we’re in no jeopardy of having to make up extra days,” Principal Dr. Jeremy Mitchell said.