Snow days pile up

Snow days are all fun and games until it's realized they could mean more school in June.

For many districts, this would mean a shortened summer break. However, Creston Community School District has factored in contingency plans to decrease this possibility.

To date, Creston Community Schools has had seven snow days, or 45.5 hours, this academic year.

State law requires a minimum of 1,080 hours of “contact time” between students and teachers. However, the district has continued the schedule of 1,120 hours as they have done in previous years, and it will be up to the school board to determine if the hours missed need to be made up.

“The students need us more, they don’t need us less,” said Steve McDermott, CCSD superintendent.

Because of the amount of snow received and expected in the near future, he believes the school board will wait until March, or possibly April, to decide about make up days. McDermott said board members have the authority to forgive some of the missed days.

Determining snow days

McDermott said it is his decision as to whether or not school is called off for inclement weather, and is always done so with the safety of students, staff and the community, in mind.

“Our transportation director, Bob Beatty, and I get up really early in the morning, usually by four o’clock in the morning ... and we drive around and we compare notes. We also speak to about eight other superintendents in the area very consistently on mornings like this,” said McDermott. “We actually get out and drive on these roads, too, and just try to determine what’s going to be safest for everybody involved.”

McDermott said safety is always subjective – what may seem safe or dangerous to someone, may not be so for someone else.

“We think about our students drivers and we think about our brand-new, just starting out student drivers. We also think about staff, as well,” he said.