Some schools already making up missed days, while others won’t do it

Years ago, the state took away the rule that schools must make up any closure days beyond the first five. Now schools just have to provide a certain number of hours of instruction each year.

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Given the flexibility to make their own decisions, schools have gone a variety of different routes. Officials from Bellbrook, Waynesville, Carroll High School and the DECA charter schools said they’ll only make up days if they get close to the state’s hour minimum, which could require missing a huge number of days.

Centerville, Bethel and Greeneview are among the schools choosing to stick with the old system of making up any missed days beyond the fifth. Greeneview already made up a snow day on Presidents Day last week, and Bethel will have an extra day June 3. Centerville currently sits at five calamity days, so one more closure would mean a makeup day.

Other schools have gone the technology route. Miami East and Eaton schools are among those that have already made up three days via official “blizzard bags” or “e-days,” where students check online for assignments to do when a snow day is called. Springboro schools have a web page listing snow-day assignments broken down by grade level for the district’s sixth through 10th calamity days.

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Milton-Union had an e-day when it missed its sixth day Wednesday, and likely would schedule in-school make-up days if it missed more than eight.

“Our choice to do so doesn’t really have anything to do with the minimum number of required hours since our daily schedule allows us to exceed state expectations,” Superintendent Brad Ritchey said. “We just believe instructional time is important, and students should not attend school less than in previous years simply because reporting requirements changed.”

Ohio schools are required to provide a minimum of 910 hours of instruction for students in first through sixth grade, and 1,001 hours for grades 7-12. Each school or district sets its own schedule, and the number of hours varies greatly.

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Kettering schedules 971.5 hours at their elementary schools and 1,174 at Fairmont High School. Centerville schedules the same 1,098 hours for both. Many local schools have at least 100 extra hours planned, meaning they could miss more than 15 days without hitting the state’s floor.

Several school districts are taking advantage of their new flexibility. Piqua and Beavercreek will schedule makeup days starting with the eighth missed day instead of the sixth. Brookville Superintendent Tim Hopkins said his school board has approved use of blizzard bag days, but they’ll wait and see.

“It’s only in the event that we feel the number of calamity days has significantly deteriorated classroom instruction,” Hopkins said. “That would be an administrative decision made as deemed necessary.”

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Both Kettering and Lebanon schools have a structure to add makeup days at the end of the year, starting with the sixth missed day. Both have currently missed five, but school officials said those decisions are subject to review or change once the number of days is clear.

Troy is not going with the flexibility trend, as Superintendent Chris Piper said union contracts in his district specify the district will make up missed days starting with the sixth one. That means two makeup days need to be scheduled so far.

Alter High School Principal Lourdes Lambert said her school generally goes by the hours approach, but she added that the Archdiocese of Cincinnati’s requirement of 1,060 hours is higher than the state’s. Lambert said Alter’s academic council will decide at its March 11 meeting whether any makeup time is warranted.

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“We always have all assignments posted on Moodle and/or Renweb (online platforms), and the teachers do email the students with assignments when we are out,” Lambert said. “However, we have not called it an official e-day nor a blizzard bag day.”

Things can get dicey if weather hits on a day when a school has a special schedule planned. Last Wednesday, West Carrollton juniors were scheduled to take the ACT college entrance exam during the day, while the other three high school grades were to have the day off.

But district officials said in advance that if school was on a two-hour delay, the ACT would be postponed (ACT rules dictate the test can’t begin later than 9:30 a.m.), and all grades were to attend. That’s what happened, leading to a lot of grumbling from students who had expected a day off.

How often do schools close? 

Number of days selected local schools and districts have closed for weather or other "calamity" this school year. Some schools close more often because of local conditions or bus concerns.

* Also had 6 days with early dismissal due to heat

NOTE: In some districts, a single school may have closed an extra day due to water or other issues.

Source: School districts