February, 16, 2000
No more snow days for Lakota schools
By Cathy Willoughby
Staff WRiter
Although this year's snow and icy weather does not hold a candle to 1999's blizzards, many area schools are finding themselves out of their allotted five school "snow'' or calamity days.
"Yesterday was our fifth day,'' said Lakota Local Schools superintendent Judy Zimmerman of Monday's school closure. "We will have to take additional days at the end of the school year, if it comes to that. It was highly unusual last year, when we didn't come back from Christmas break until after Martin Luther King day.''
She said that the teacher's union worked with the administration last year to work out days during the spring that could be used to make some calamity days up. "Hopefully this year we will start to see some warmer weather,'' Zimmerman added.
The Hopewell - Loudon district has also used their five day allotment, and if an additional is taken this week, the students will be in school on President's Day, Feb. 21.
With make up days scheduled into their calendars, Tiffin City Schools superintendent Denise Callihan feels prepared, even though Monday was also their fifth day. "Our make up days are scheduled as January 15, which we have passed, and February 21. And the calendar states that others will be assigned at the end of the calendar year,'' she said.
"We have one left,'' said Bettsville Local Schools Superintendent Jane Garling. "And we have our make up days planned in the spring, right in our calendar. '' Bettsville seeks input from the teachers and staff when setting the future school calendars. "We got a lot of help in that situation,'' Garling said of last year's weather conditions. "The teachers considered some other things that could work to make up classroom time.''
Fostoria Community Schools have two days left in case of inclement weather. A three year calendar is used at the schools, and days are added at the end of the school year.
Jim Wright, principal of Calvert High School, said that the Tiffin Catholic schools have taken three of their five allotted days for bad weather conditions. "We start making them up with the first being Martin Luther King day, which is passed. If we had to, the next would be Monday, February 21. The next would be March 13, which is scheduled as an inservice day. After that we would start taking from spring vacation,''
Wright said.
Seneca East Local Schools Superintendent Michael Wank said, "We have zero days left.''
All of the district's days were not taken in the winter months. "We had to cancel on the first Friday of the school year,'' Wank said. "We had really bad fog that didn't clear until 11 a.m.; the other four were for snow and ice.''
"We would make one up on April 10, which is scheduled for a teacher inservice,'' Wank said of Seneca East's make up days. "The next days would be May 30, 31 and June 1 and 2, the week of Memorial Day. But we don't want anymore snow days.''