How Columbus-area schools are handling snow day makeups
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After five snow days last week, area families may be breathing a sigh of relief — but disruptions could continue, depending on how much wiggle room is built into their school's calendar.
Why it matters: Cancellations uproot more than lesson plans, often creating child care chaos for working parents.
- Figuring out resulting calendar shifts isn't as straightforward as it used to be, either.
State of play: It's been a long time since snow and bitter cold canceled local classes for days in a row, likely dating to the polar vortex cold of 2014 and 2015.
- Back then, districts were only permitted five "calamity days" in a school year before students had to make up a day.
- The following school year, the state changed its calendar requirements to allow for more local flexibility.
The latest: Traditional districts now must only meet a minimum of yearly instructional hours — 910 for grades K-6 and 1,001 for grades 7-12, excluding lunch.
- Districts can build as many "extra" hours as they'd like into the school calendar to account for potential weather disruptions.
- In addition to full makeup days, they can also make up missed time with minute-by-minute adjustments or shifting to online learning.
Yes, but: Unlike the past — when more than five snow days meant automatically preparing for an extra day of school — situations now vary from district to district.
For example: Reynoldsburg has decided to have classes on Presidents Day, previously a scheduled day off. The district will also add five minutes to the start and end of each day for middle and high school students.
- The South-Western district has added a school day on June 2.
- Westerville, however, doesn't need to schedule any makeup days yet.
What they're saying: So far, Columbus City Schools students in seven schools teaching grades 7-12 will need to make up time, but officials haven't finalized plans for how to do it, spokesperson Michael Brown tells Axios.
- Another 18 are on the cusp and will need to add extra time if another cancellation occurs.
The bottom line: Parents should keep an eye on communications from their child's school district — especially if it snows again — to ensure they aren't missing any important schedule changes.