By Lori Ehde
With all the recent snow days, students and staff at area school districts are wondering how much the make-up days will cut into their summer vacation.
In addition to late starts and early dismissals, Luverne School District has so far missed three full days of classes because of bad weather.
According to Superintendent Vince Schaefer, no snow days were built into the school calendar this year, with the intent that any missed days would be made up at the end of the year.
School was originally set to dismiss for summer on Wednesday, May 30, with graduation set for Sunday, June 3.
At this rate, snow days will be made up on Thursday and Friday, May 31 and June 1, and the following Monday, June 4, after graduation on June 3.
Because some semester high school courses may suffer from the missed days this semester, Schaefer said administration is considering lengthening the first semester.
It wouldn't mean scheduling classes on holidays or other planned days off, it would simply mean changing the official cut-off; date for the semester. Right now it's scheduled to end Jan. 22.
The state allows districts a great deal of flexibility in scheduling their calendar year. In Luverne, the calendar calls for 175 student contact days, and as long as that is satisfied, it doesn't matter if snow days are built into the calendar or tacked on in the spring.
With recent mild winters, a committee of teachers, staff and administrators decided to set up snow days at the end of the year this year.
Missed school becomes a problem not only for teachers and students working to meet graduation standards, but it factors into labor union contracts.
"The expectation is if we sign the teachers on for 182 days, they get paid for 182 days, and it really complicates the schedule," Schaefer said.
"With missed days, you run into the possibility of paying staff for days they haven't actually worked."
Schaefer said the district is nearing a point where instead of calling off school, it may call for buses to run on plowed routes only.
"We're at that point now," he said. "There are parents who will choose not to send their kids on snow days, and we respect that."
He said parents have already been good about calling bus drivers when roads are closed or calling the school when they’re keeping their children home.
"It takes a lot of communication with this kind of weather," Schaefer said.