School officials decide on plan to make up snow days

To make up for days lost during the two snowstorms that hit the area earlier this month, USD 234 will add days to the district calendar and lengthen school days for a period of time.

Under state regulations, schools are required to be in session 1,116 hours during the school year. The school district closed for a total of seven days this year due to bad weather and must make up five of those days.

Four student instructional days have been added to the calendar. The first of those days was Monday, which was Presidents' Day. The other days school will be in session are March 18, which is the Friday before spring break, April 22, which is Good Friday, and May 27, which was initially scheduled as an in-service day.

The last day of school was originally May 26, but one additional school day has been tacked onto the calendar, officials said.

In addition, 20 minutes was added to each school day starting Feb. 16. This will end April 1. During this period of time, the school day at Winfield Scott Elementary School and Fort Scott Middle School will last from 8 a.m. to 3:16 p.m., the school day at Eugene Ware Elementary School will run from 7:55 a.m. to 3:11 p.m., and Fort Scott High School will be in session from 7:50 a.m. to 3:16 p.m.

District officials recently met with teacher representatives to discuss options for making up missed time. The district will not have to make up any more time this year unless additional days are missed in the coming months due to school closings.

If more days are missed, district officials will have to meet with teachers again to discuss options for making up the lost time.

"We would have to negotiate with teachers if we miss any other days from here on out," USD 234 Business Manager Tiffany Forester said.

USD 235 in Uniontown has reached its limit for snow days built into the school calendar at the beginning of the school year, and will have to make up hours if any more days are missed this school year. The district has missed six full days since the start of the school year.

The USD 235 Board of Education recently decided that teachers in the district could best determine how to make up lost class time if additional closings occur this year.

If that happens, several options are available including adding days to the end of the school year, or having school on days when it is not normally in session. District officials and teacher representatives would meet to discuss possibilities and create a plan.