Jefferson County students missed five days in the classroom last week after ice and snow covered roads early in the week and another few inches of snow blanketed roads on Jan. 10.
No in-person classes were held from Jan. 6-10 at any of the county’s 11 public school districts because of the wintry weather, with superintendents calling for either traditional snow days with no instruction taking place or alternative methods of instruction (AMI) days with students completing work at home.
The snow days and AMI days came on the heels of students having two weeks off school for winter break, so superintendents weighed multiple factors before deciding to keep students and staff at home, they said.
“Calling a snow day is a challenging decision because it impacts many aspects of our community, from student learning to family routines,” Windsor C-1 Superintendent Jason King said. “We weigh several critical factors, including weather forecasts, road conditions and the timing of the storm. Our primary focus is always the safety of our students, staff and families, but we also consider the potential disruptions a snow day can cause. Striking the right balance between caution and maintaining normal operations requires careful judgment, and we strive to make the best decision with the information available at the time.”
The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education requires school districts to have 1,044 instructional hours each school year. School district officials not only have to consider that requirement, but also they need to consider a new one this school year that calls for districts to have 169 school days in order to qualify for an additional 1 percent of state funding. School districts with four-day weeks have more trouble scheduling 169 school days and receiving that extra funding.
Here is a look at how county schools handled last week’s inclement weather.
Crystal City
The Crystal City School District was not scheduled to resume classes following the winter break until Jan. 7, with Jan. 6 designated as a teachers’ professional development day. Superintendent Crystal Reiter said teachers attended professional development sessions virtually that day.
The district had AMI days on Jan. 7-8 and traditional snow days Jan. 9-10. Reiter said Crystal City has four traditional snow days and 36 hours of AMI days built into its schedule this school year before needing to make up missed days.
She said Crystal City still has two more traditional snow days and a half day of AMI it may use before it needs to start making up missed school time. If days need to be made up, the district would hold classes on Mondays, which typically are days off for students due to Crystal City having a four-day school week.
The district’s last day of school is scheduled for May 22.
Reiter said it was not a difficult decision for her to cancel classes last week.
“This week was pretty easy to call due to the number of student walkers, drivers and the fact that our parking lots were not safe,” she said.
De Soto
The De Soto School District had a traditional snow day on Jan. 6 and AMI days Jan. 7-10. Superintendent Ron Farrow said the district has one traditional and five AMI days built into its schedule before it needs to add makeup days at the end of the school year.
The district’s last day of school is scheduled for May 21.
He said the main things he considers before calling for a snow day is the condition of roads, sidewalks and parking lots.
“We certainly want to be in person for learning whenever possible, but safety will always come first,” Farrow said. “There are days where it can be much more difficult, especially when it is a matter of timing and you are going off a forecast with weather coming in after you have to call it.”
Dunklin
The Dunklin R-5 School District held AMI days every day last week.
Superintendent Clint Freeman said the district has 169 days in its school calendar and no traditional snow days built in this school year.
He said Dunklin has about a half day left of AMI hours, so the district will have to schedule more school days if more than another half day of classes are called off this school year. Dunklin’s last day of school is scheduled for May 21.
Freeman said he was impressed by how students and teachers handled the AMI days last week.
“We know AMI is not easy on our students, families and teachers,” he said. “I saw posts on what people did on AMI days, and I am appreciative of the engagement our kids had. They had not come back from winter break, and they were still engaged. That tells me they missed their teachers and their teachers missed them, and that is a good problem to have.”
Festus
The Festus R-6 School District had traditional snow days on Jan. 6-8 and AMI days on Jan. 9-10. Superintendent Nicki Ruess said the district will add the four traditional snow days to the end of the school calendar. The last day of school for Festus will now be May 23.
Ruess said the decision to not hold school is never easy.
“Balancing the need to keep students safe with the importance of maintaining instructional time makes the decision particularly challenging,” she said. “Each situation is unique, and I do my best to evaluate the information available to make the best call for everyone involved.”
Fox
The Fox C-6 School District had traditional snow days on Jan. 6-7 and AMI days on Jan. 8-10. Superintendent Paul Fregeau said the district has two traditional snow days and 36 hours of AMI, approximately six days, built into the schedule, so the district may have three more AMI days before it needs to add makeup days at the end of the school year.
The last day of school at Fox C-6 is scheduled for May 23.
Fregeau said last week was difficult because of the desire to have students and staff return to school following the two-week winter break.
“This was very taxing because of the amount of ice involved and resources we needed to allocate to make the campuses safe to attend school at,” he said.
Grandview
The Grandview R-2 School District used AMI days on Jan. 7-10, and the district’s students already had Jan. 6 off due to a teachers’ professional development day.
Superintendent Matt Zoph said Grandview has two traditional snow days it may use this year before needing to add more days to the school calendar. The district’s last day of school is scheduled for May 16.
He said the district had used a snow day earlier this school year due to flooding.
Zoph said the most difficult day for him to decide whether to hold classes in person was Jan. 9.
“(That day) was tough because all our main roads and campus were clear, and driveways and private roads were still pretty rough, but with the cold temperatures, they are probably not going to improve for another week to 10 days,” he said.
Hillsboro
The Hillsboro R-3 School District used AMI days every day last week, and Superintendent Jon Isaacson said the district has one more AMI day and one more traditional snow day remaining before it needs to add days at the end of the school.
The district’s last day of school is scheduled for May 23.
Isaacson said calling off school is not a decision that is made lightly.
“On one hand, closing schools can disrupt learning, create child care challenges for parents and impact schedules,” he said. “On the other hand, the safety of our students and staff must always come first.”
Jefferson R-7
The Jefferson R-7 School District also had a teachers’ professional development day planned for Jan. 6, so it only called off in-person classes on Jan. 7-10. Superintendent David Haug said the district used traditional snow days, and teachers attended professional development sessions virtually.
He said the district has seven traditional snow days and four AMI days it may use before needing to added days at the end of the school year. The district’s last day of school is scheduled for May 16.
“The next four inclement weather days will be AMI, with three more snow days after AMI,” Haug said.
Northwest
The Northwest R-1 School District had traditional snow days on Jan. 6-8, and it held AMI days on Jan. 9-10. Superintendent Jennifer Hecktor said Northwest may use five AMI days before having to add days to the school year.
Northwest previously used two AMI days due to flooding earlier this school year, and it has one more AMI day left before always holding traditional snow days and making up the missed days later this school year.
Because the district had traditional snow days for the first three days last week, Northwest’s last day of school moved to May 28 instead of May 22.
Hecktor said the most difficult day to decide whether to hold classes was Jan. 9.
“After having a full day of sun, our roads were in good shape with many of them dry,” she said. “Unfortunately, we have some side roads that do not get sun and too many subdivisions that continued to refreeze overnight and just were not in good enough shape for school.”
Sunrise
The Sunrise R-9 School District had a professional development day scheduled for Jan. 6, so classes already were scheduled off for that day. Superintendent Armand Spurgin said the professional development day for teachers was canceled and AMI days were held Jan. 7-10.
“Coming out of break, we wanted to get something back in front of the kids to re-engage them after they were out for two weeks,” Spurgin said of not having traditional snow days.
Spurgin said if the district has a traditional snow day, the missed day would be made up at the end of the school year. The district’s last day of school is scheduled for May 13.
Windsor
The Windsor C-1 School District already was scheduled to not have classes on Jan. 6, when the wintery weather first started affecting school days. However, the district had a professional development day for teachers scheduled that day.
The district held AMI days on Jan. 7-10 to ensure continued learning, King said.
He said Windsor has six snow days built into its school calendar, and the district may have two more AMI days before extra school days have to be added to this school year, which is scheduled to end on May 16.
He said the most challenging decision to make last week was whether to have classes on Jan. 10.
“While the main roads and most secondary roads were clear and district parking lots and sidewalks were in decent shape, the forecast predicted snow starting Thursday night (Jan. 9) into Friday morning (Jan. 10),” he said. “This left us with a difficult choice – wait until early Friday morning to assess actual conditions or rely on the forecast and provide families with advance notice. Whenever possible, I believe it’s important to give parents and students as much notice as we can.”