School Districts and Snow Days: Trying to Make Up for Lost Time

The State Board of Education Thursday unanimously approved a plan allowing school districts across the state to shorten their year by 14 hours. The board said those hours of emergency school closures - most districts in the Portland region have had nine missed days because of the weather - as missed instructional time.

"I have heard from many district officials who say that the flexibility available in previous years would be helpful this year as they cope with a much more severe winter than normal, said Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction Salam Noor.

"We know that districts value instructional time, just as we do, but recent storms – which led Governor Brown to declare a state of emergency earlier this month – hit some districts harder than others. Ultimately it will be up to each district to come up with a plan best suited to its situation to make up as much lost class time as possible."

Districts used to have the power to count those 14 hours as missed time if storms forced more cancelations than had been planned for. In 2015, however, the board voted to do away with that rule so as to try to increase the amount of time students were in class. This was supposed to be first year under the new rule.

Meanwhile, even with the 14 hours restored, the districts that lost nine days are considering a variety of plans.

BEAVERTON

Beaverton plans for two snow days a year. So far, they have had nine, meaning lost instructional time.

Now, they have a solution.

"We appreciate the many suggestions that we received from students, staff, parents and community," District Superintendent Don Grotting wrote in a letter to students and families.

"Some of the suggested options included adding minutes to the student day, adding days in June, eliminating professional development and grading days, using President’s Day as a student day, eliminating all or a portion of spring break and converting finals’ schedules and eliminating conferences."

In the end, Grotting wrote, the district decided to restore six instructional days for students and extending the first semester by one week, effective immediately.

"It is important to note that eliminating critical time for teachers to participate in professional development, meet with students and parents and assess student progress has been a painful decision," Grotting wrote.

"t also impacts the quality of instruction for our students and communication with parents."

Grotting said that the changes also mean that: Report cards will be sent home later than normal; schools will not provide conference times at the elementary and middle school levels; and high school students will have full days during finals’ weeks, as these days will be student contact days for the remainder of the school year.

The superintendent ended his letter by pointing out it's still winter and it could snow again. If there are more closures, he said, they will re-evaluate.

GRESHAM

Gresham has already made several changes to their school calendar:

• Extended the semester by one week so that the last day of the semester will be Thursday, February 2 instead of the original schedule of Thursday, January 26 (A regular school day will occur on January 27). That means the start of second semester is Monday, February 6.
• Moved the grading day to Friday, February 3 from the original schedule of Friday, January 27 (No school for high school students on February 3)

The district has a built in process for adding back up to five days if necessary by tacking them on at the end of the year. That will be discussed at the board's April meeting.

HILLSBORO

The district has not yet set a plan for making up the missed days. They said they would discuss a plan at a February meeting after most of the bad weather is expected to have passed. They have said any plan would try to keep the last day of school the same.

LAKE OSWEGO

The school board will hear a proposal from the superintendent on how to adjust the school calendar at their meeting on January 30.

OREGON CITY
Oregon City has turned January 27th, which had been a day of professional developing and planning, into a regular school day.

There are two options being considered for the remaining days.

Option one extends the school calendar, which the district calls "an easy to understand change." The problem is that most of the time will happen later in the year and after Seniors have graduated. And, it might conflict with summer vacations and other activities.

The other option involves previously scheduled time that had been set aside for things like early release, planning, conferences plus adding 1.5 days at the end of the year.

The district has set up a website with more information and a place for people to leave feedback.

PORTLAND

The Portland Public Schools Board took baby steps this week to make up for lost time. Like many districts, they had to cancel classes nine times because of the weather while their calendar allows for just two snow days.

The district had already announced two days would be added to the end of the year after snow days in December.

The board has now extended the school year by one more day. They also announced that there would be no more late starts and early releases. And there's the 14 hours that they can write off.

But that's not enough. Not nearly enough. Those additions won't be enough to put the district in compliance with state requirements for instructional time.

Chief of Staff Amanda Whalen made a presentation to the board laying out some of the other options - along with the potential drawbacks.

Whalen's presentation said the district's goal is to "not simply be in compliance but to restore as many classroom hours for our students as possible."

• Among the options being considered (and the potential obstacles):
• Additional days at the end of the year (doesn't affect seniors but cuts into time for summer construction and family and staff plans would be disrupted);
• Converting June 15/16 planning days into classroom time (requires teacher union agreement);
• Moving graduation dates (notices have already been sent out, limited availability at venues, families have already made plans);
• Converting April 7 planning day (see June 15, 16 above);
• Using President's Day and Memorial Day (requires multiple unions to agree, staff and family plans may be disrupted);
• Shortening Spring Break (need unions to agree; family and staff plans likely disrupted);
• Adding minutes to the start or end of day (requires teacher union agreement, challenges to realigning schedules); and
• Saturday classes (scheduling challenges, need multiple unions to agree).

The board stressed these are all just options and nothing has been decided.

WILSONVILLE

The district has taken some steps already to make up for lost time:

• Jan 30 is now a regular school day for all students. Previously, it was a staff work day for middle and high school.
• On Feb 6, there will be no school for middle or high school students; primary school students will attend school normally. Feb 6 is now a staff work day for middle and high schools.
• The last school day of First Semester has been moved from Jan 27 to Feb 3 for middle and high schools.

They were waiting for the state's action on the 14 hours before taking more steps.

The district says they are considering several options.

"Options have their own complexities and implementation pros and cons," said Superintendent Kathy Ludwig. "There will be no solution that will be met with universal approval; however, please be assured that staff will work thoughtfully and carefully to deliver a resolution."

Photo Portland Public Schools