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Many area schools have gone beyond the state five-day calamity allotment

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By JENNY DERRINGER

derringer@crescent-news.com

The winter of 2008-09 has been memorable in terms of weather conditions -- with wind chills near 30 degrees below zero and total snowfall amounts in January at approximately the same amount as accumulated during the Blizzard of 1978.

Those conditions are taking a toll on the number of calamity days that the state allows school districts to miss.

Each school year, districts can miss up to five calamity days due to snow, ice, fog, disease, damage to buses or the facility, or other uncontrolled circumstances. State law requires districts to be in session 182 days, minus parent-teacher conferences and teacher professional days.

Most districts in northwest Ohio are currently at that magic number of five as of this week. Some at six or more lost days are even planning on attending classes on Presidents Day, Feb. 16, to begin making up lost class time. Those include Central Local, Holgate Local, Paulding Exempted Village and Miller City-New Cleveland Local schools.

The majority of other schools will, if necessary, make up the time at the end of the school year. Either way, boards of education build make-up dates into their calendars each year in the event they go over the maximum allowed.

Among those missing the most days so far are Putnam County schools including Continental Local at eight and Miller City-New Cleveland Local at nine. Those logging six days so far include Ayersville Local, Central Local, Northeastern Local, Holgate Local and Paulding Exempted Village schools.

Meanwhile, districts that have only missed three days this school year due to fog, ice, snow or arctic temperatures are Defiance City, Pettisville Local and Stryker Local.

"This winter has been different than most," said Pat Ross, superintendent of Paulding Exempted Village Schools. "We have had more snow than most winters, but have not had as much ice. We haven't had any fog delays this year."

Ross believes the state, county and townships have done a great job of plowing the snow this winter.

"But there is not much they can do with the ice," she noted. "There is very little control when driving on ice."

Though making up days at the end of the school year is always an option, Paulding staff and students could be using up a day or two from their spring break.

"Our Easter break is April 9, 10 and 13," added Ross. "We will use the 9th and 14th if needed for make-up days. Our teachers and support staff have always been very cooperative is scheduling make-up days."

Among districts that would tack extra days to the end of the school year could be Antwerp, which currently stands at five calamity days.

The district doesn't use Easter break as make-up days, as it is currently written in the negotiated agreement with the teachers' association.

"If we miss any more days we will need to use our contingency days," said superintendent Mark Hartman. Those would be Feb. 16 and May 22, 26-28 if needed.

"I'm a little surprised about the amount of snow we have received," he stated, "and I'm also surprised about how little fog we have had this school year. I hope we can make it a few more months without any more snow and that the fog doesn't set in when the snow melts.

"I think the worst condition that we deal with is black ice on the back roads," Hartman added. "It's hard to see and many times it is quite easy to slide right through an intersection. Snow and blowing snow along with subzero temperatures also can make the decision to go to school a difficult one. When we do err, we try and err on the side of caution."

Kevin Miller, superintendent of Hicksville Exempted Village Schools, calls this a challenging winter.

"It has presented lots of challenges to school systems," said Miller. "We were doing so well. I think the end of November was the first time I had to even drive the roads, but since then, we've had ice, snow, fog and frigid temperatures to deal with."

The superintendent believes that ice is the most dangerous because once it's here, it's here to stay until temperatures get above freezing for several days.

"It becomes next to impossible to maneuver big buses on icy roads," he explained, "so ice can cause the most headaches because there's just nothing that can be done about it -- you just have to wait it out. Main highways can get cleared, but monetarily, counties and townships can't afford to salt all of the side roads."

Make-up days at Hicksville usually come at the end of the school year.

"Traditionally, we take a weeklong spring break and many families and staff members plan trips, so to take days away from the spring break would not be prudent in my eyes," said Miller. "We do have a Friday off every February due to parent-teacher conferences, and currently, we are checking with our staff members to see if they would be in favor of using that Friday as a make-up day should we be over five calamity days by this time next year. This is for next year, though, and is not a consideration for this year."