How the snow days add up for local schools

By Jason McDowell, Northeast Nodaway acting superintendent

This has been a particularly hard winter on northwest Missouri. One easy way to gauge is by how many snow days, early outs and late starts your district has had.

As I type this, my district, Northeast Nodaway, has had eight snow days, three late starts and two early outs. We are pretty much in line with every school in the county, give or take a day. No one has been immune to them for sure.

Different districts have varying processes they go through to determine a snow day but student safety is the number one factor in determining whether or not a snow day is called. Sometimes it’s a pretty cut and dry call and other times it’s not. It’s an inconvenience for parents, but we truly have the best interest of your students in mind.

There’s a pretty powerful quote which says “I’d rather attend school in June than a funeral in February.” The months may be different but the message is still a powerful one.

All schools are required to make up the first six days which are canceled due to weather. After that we go to an every other snow day setup where day seven is made up, day eight is forgiven, day nine is made up and so on. The most days a district will have to make up at the end of the year is 10. The Missouri Department of Education has created this formula.

Clear as mud? Here’s a chart to help out.