Snow-days fallout: Longer school days, canceled days off, classes through June 11

Stevens Point Journal

Note: Updated to include Merrill's plan to make up lost instructional time.

Central Wisconsin schools find themselves wrangling with how best to make up school time in light of extreme weather events early in the winter and with another four or five weeks of the season still to go.

Parts of the region saw record-breaking weather events in a one month span that included some of the coldest and snowiest days ever recorded.

Schools that were forced to shut down — some had as many as six full days of closings already — are now deploying a range of methods to make up for lost instructional time that include extending school days, cutting lunch hours and cancelling scheduled days off.

"We all understand that we are dealing with a year unlike any year that any of us have have experienced," Stevens Point School Board President Meg Erler said during a February board meeting.

Schools generally build inclement weather days into their schedules, but the string of extreme weather events forced a quick burn of those days. School districts must comply with Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction requirements for direct instructional time — ranging from a minimum of 437 hours for kindergartners to 1,137 hours for seventh- to 12th-graders.

Here are local districts' plans for makeup days so far:

Merrill

No more Friday off for students on April 5, which had been set aside for a day of teacher grading and staff safety training. It will now be a full class day.

That's one of the ways Merrill Area Public Schools will make up for six full-day school closures, one early release day and one late start so far this winter. The district also will tack on June 10 and most of June 11 (with early release at 1 p.m.) as class days.

If Merrill has to cancel any more class time, according to a district statement issued Friday, "we will be required to seek (School) Board approval to move summer school back one week and add the necessary makeup day(s) to the end of the school year."

Stevens Point

Students who thought they had three-day weekends coming up with days off on Friday, Feb. 22 and Monday, April 22, might be disappointed. The Stevens Point School Board made those two dates student attendance days, instead of staff-only days.

The makeup days would allow the district to still end school on June 6, barring any more cancelled school days. The district would need to decide whether to add more minutes to school days or schedule classes after June 6 in the event of more school closings, of which the district has experienced six so far.

Wausau

Wausau schools experienced six school closures.

The district will add 10 instructional minutes to every school day from Feb. 25 through June 7 to help make up for missed school time due to inclement weather, meaning all school levels start five minutes earlier in the morning and end five minute later in the afternoon.

The school district built May 3 in as a possible makeup day, and it will now be a full school day. Wausau schools will also turn a professional learning day for teachers into a full school day for students on May 24.

June 6 and June 7 will be a full day of school. However, elementary students on June 7 will go to school for only half a day if there are no further closures.

D.C. Everest Area

D.C. Everest district schools will tack on a few extra minutes to school days to help make up for six missed days and a two-hour delayed start on Jan. 7 due to snow and extreme cold. The exact number of minutes will vary by school.

The school district will use a built-in inclement weather day in its calendar to make up school on May 6. No additional make-up days are planned.

Marshfield

The Marshfield School District make-up plan includes shortening the lunch period at Marshfield Senior High by five minutes starting Feb. 25.

The district will change April 5 and April 19 from early dismissal days to full days. Students will also have full days on June 6 and June 7, which will be the last day of school.

If there is another missed day, the district will most likely need to extend the school year into the week of June 10, according to a district notice.

Almond-Bancroft

The Almond-Bancroft School District planned to discuss options for makeup days this week, School District Administrator Dennis Raabe said.

The district's calendar includes two days built in for teacher work days without students, March 15 and March 18. The board will consider whether to make one or both days mandatory for students, Raabe said.

Tomorrow River

The Tomorrow River School District previously decided to schedule makeup days on Feb. 15, Feb. 18 and April 22. The district has experienced seven school closings so far this year.

Wisconsin Rapids

Wisconsin Rapids schools Superintendent Craig Broeren said the district doesn’t have a set plan in place for making up missed days since severe weather may still cause schools to close yet this year. Weather this year forced the district to cancel six times so far.

The district hopes to come up with a plan and spread the word within the next few weeks, he said.