Deleted
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May 18, 2024 19:16:47 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2017 19:12:24 GMT
How does your school district handle this?
And (besides parents planning vacations) why can't spring break be used for make up days. And all these federal holidays?
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AnotherPea
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,968
Jan 4, 2015 1:47:52 GMT
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Post by AnotherPea on Feb 18, 2017 19:18:47 GMT
Our district will excuse one or two days. Teachers get charged vacation time. New teachers without vacation days lose a day's pay.
If more than two days are lost, the next vacation period will lose a day. So one less day for Christmas break or Easter break. Parents get into an uproar about losing a day because of vacations and most won't send their kids to school then, even if they aren't out of town. So the district tries not to go this route.
The district next to me has Saturday school for make up days.
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johnnysmom
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Posts: 5,682
Jun 25, 2014 21:16:33 GMT
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Post by johnnysmom on Feb 18, 2017 19:19:25 GMT
I don't know about spring break but Monday was supposed to be "mid winter break" (just 1 day) for us and it's now a make up day. I heard that in order for us to do that we had to send a request to the state for approval.
ETA: we have 5 built in days, after that we have to ale them up. Monday will take care of one, assuming we don't have any more snow days we'll have to make up one more. Probably in June.
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Post by refugeepea on Feb 18, 2017 19:22:52 GMT
Our state just waived the snow make up days. One school had 2 days, the other had 4 days (district and public charter school). It would have been made up on President's Day, teacher prep day, and going back to school 1 day after Memorial Day. That would have been the last school day. I am SO glad that was waived.
Our spring breaks are short; just 2 days. I think most people make vacation plans so they tried to avoid those days. I also know there are kids on traveling sports teams that go to scheduled tournaments.
ETA: We don't have long breaks throughout the school year. The weather was still quite iffy on Martin Luther King Jr. Day or I think that would have been a make up day as well. I was surprised they didn't take a day from spring break for the charter school.
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eastcoastpea
Prolific Pea
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Jun 27, 2014 13:05:28 GMT
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Post by eastcoastpea on Feb 18, 2017 19:24:36 GMT
I'm in New England. We have five days allotted for snow days. If we use less than that, it shortens the school year. Any more than that extends it. We've already used all of them.
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Post by mrssmith on Feb 18, 2017 19:28:00 GMT
Our school ends on Monday June 5. The remainder of that week is held for makeup days. All the area camps are scheduled to start June 12. This year, they also announced that Presidents Day would be used as a snow makeup day if needed. We haven't had any snow, so nothing to worry about here (Chicagoland). Had we used up all of those, I think we would have had full days on some of the 1/2 days that are used for teacher development. I think they kept spring break intact.
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breetheflea
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Jul 20, 2014 21:57:23 GMT
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Post by breetheflea on Feb 18, 2017 20:18:28 GMT
Here we had a school "mid semester break" canceled at the end of January, 3 days added to the end of the year, and the other 4 snow days they are trying to get waived. If the waiver doesn't happen school will end on 27th instead of the original date which was June 16th.
I don't think they would even attempt Saturday school here. Canceling half days is not an option because our school time is calculated in days not hours... The only holidays between now and June are Spring Break and Memorial Day, it would be a really really long slog if we had no breaks between now and the middle of June!
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Post by freecharlie on Feb 18, 2017 20:21:49 GMT
They will use scheduled professional development days first, then any random day that isn't a federal holiday, then add on to the end of the year.
One year the district I worked in just added 15 minutes to each remaining day to make up the missed time. I think the department of education told them that was a no-go in following years.
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PaperAngel
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Jun 27, 2014 23:04:06 GMT
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Post by PaperAngel on Feb 18, 2017 20:35:35 GMT
Each missed day is made up starting with the next predetermined make up day on the school year calendar. Once teacher workdays are exhausted, days are added onto the school year.
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Post by iteach3rdgrade on Feb 18, 2017 20:58:58 GMT
We can have up to 5 and then use Blizzard Bags. We have used a holiday before, but spring break must be excluded due to our contract.
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Post by 950nancy on Feb 18, 2017 21:15:03 GMT
They will use scheduled professional development days first, then any random day that isn't a federal holiday, then add on to the end of the year. One year the district I worked in just added 15 minutes to each remaining day to make up the missed time. I think the department of education told them that was a no-go in following years.This is what we always did. We added 15 minutes to the last three months of school. It worked out well for us.
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Post by tuva42 on Feb 18, 2017 21:16:39 GMT
Our county just uses up the one or two winter days off (like President's Day), then tacks days on to the end of school. They don't dare take away spring break, as way too many families plan vacations. They get funded by the number of kids who attend each day, so they don't want to lose funds due to low attendance. Some of the surrounding rural counties with high numbers of missed days have online programs that kids do to keep those days from being counted as snow days.
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Post by myshelly on Feb 18, 2017 21:19:47 GMT
We have designated days on the school calendar that say weather make up day/holiday, so you know from the beginning of the year which days will be the makeup days of there are snow days.
If there are more snow days than make up days the district can ask the state to excuse days.
Spring Break is never used as make up.
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Post by christine58 on Feb 18, 2017 21:34:53 GMT
How does your school district handle this? And (besides parents planning vacations) why can't spring break be used for make up days. And all these federal holidays? We have 5 'built' in. Any beyond that and we would lose days either this week or in April. BUT so far here where I teach, we've had zero snow days. Also..cannot use the federal holidays.
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Post by ktdoesntscrap on Feb 18, 2017 22:28:59 GMT
We can have up to 5 and then use Blizzard Bags. We have used a holiday before, but spring break must be excluded due to our contract. What is a Blizzard Bag? In NC the district chooses if it wants to go by days or hours. Our school goes by hours. So we are making up some time by going full days on half days or early dismissal days. We are doing a half day on a currently scheduled teacher work day. Now we have school on Memorial day, and the last day of school was supposed to be a 2 pm dismissal and now it will be a regular 3.15 dismissal. The thing that annoys me is half the days we missed easily could have been delayed starts. I happen to know the Executive Director hates them.. so we never have them.
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Post by iteach3rdgrade on Feb 18, 2017 22:31:51 GMT
We can have up to 5 and then use Blizzard Bags. We have used a holiday before, but spring break must be excluded due to our contract. What is a Blizzard Bag? In NC the district chooses if it wants to go by days or hours. Our school goes by hours. So we are making up some time by going full days on half days or early dismissal days. We are doing a half day on a currently scheduled teacher work day. Now we have school on Memorial day, and the last day of school was supposed to be a 2 pm dismissal and now it will be a regular 3.15 dismissal. The thing that annoys me is half the days we missed easily could have been delayed starts. I happen to know the Executive Director hates them.. so we never have them. We have assignments posted online for students to complete. Younger grades typically get a printout of the activities if we are headed toward using them.
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Post by ktdoesntscrap on Feb 18, 2017 22:42:42 GMT
What is a Blizzard Bag? In NC the district chooses if it wants to go by days or hours. Our school goes by hours. So we are making up some time by going full days on half days or early dismissal days. We are doing a half day on a currently scheduled teacher work day. Now we have school on Memorial day, and the last day of school was supposed to be a 2 pm dismissal and now it will be a regular 3.15 dismissal. The thing that annoys me is half the days we missed easily could have been delayed starts. I happen to know the Executive Director hates them.. so we never have them. We have assignments posted online for students to complete. Younger grades typically get a printout of the activities if we are headed toward using them. I like that idea!!
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Deleted
Posts: 0
May 18, 2024 19:16:47 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2017 23:40:42 GMT
Our district used to build inclement weather days into the calendar. If they weren't used, they were added in increments to extend long weekends or spring break.
Our district has always been on the leading edge of technology and a few years ago, they implemented online learning where teachers submit lesson plans for the students for work that will be completed at home. No more inclement weather days. No more extending school year. No more missed days for weather.
Is this a substitute for face to face instruction time with the teachers? Absolutely not.
But our school district is excellent...one of the best districts in the state. (last I saw we were ranked #4, with schools 1-2 being "city" schools and #3 being a really small district. Our district has almost 3 times as many students as schools 1-3 combined)
So while this online learning is no substitute for face to face instruction, I completely trust the district that has educated all 3 of my children quite well. I believe they know what they're doing and if/when there's any kind of decline in the quality of education our students receive, then perhaps I'll change my opinion that what they're doing works.
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Post by hop2 on Feb 18, 2017 23:52:58 GMT
We have 5 days all near other holidays that we get off if there are no snow days. So far we had one snow day which means there is school this Tuesday as it is alternate day#1 fingers crossed we don't use any more.
If we use more than 5 days they peel days off of spring break JD hope enough kids show up for it to count. Not a lot gets done.
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Post by cmpeter on Feb 19, 2017 0:17:45 GMT
We used to have them built into the school calendar but they weren't always used or some years we needed more. Now they are just tacked onto the end of the school year. I like that approach...parents just need to be careful to not schedule vacation plans for that first week after school ends, just in case.
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moodyblue
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Jun 26, 2014 21:07:23 GMT
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Post by moodyblue on Feb 19, 2017 1:26:20 GMT
Up until a few years ago any days when school was cancelled were added to the end of the school year. The calendar always indicated the planned last day of the school year and then the next five were marked as makeup days if needed.
A few years ago the district started marking one of the winter/spring days off as an emergency day - if we used a snow day before that date, then we'd make it up on Presidents' Day or whatever. This year we had Friday off after doing mid year parent conferences Thursday from 4-7 and we have Monday off since we have not used any snow days this school year. If we end up with one after Monday, it will be made up after the planned last day of the school year.
Next year's calendar has the same deal - but also has the Monday after Easter as another emergency day. I really don't like that because we've had it off for decades and people plan their holiday travel around it. I think students' families as well as staff should be able to plan their travel well in advance and not have a last-minute change thrown at them.
Even worse, in my view, is that next year, the district where we live (not the district where I teach) is going to use days during their spring break to make up any emergency days. I just don't think that's right. They should either be vacation days or not, not conditional on weather. My superintendent surveyed the staff and included that as an option for feedback; luckily I think most people did not agree with it.
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Post by melanell on Feb 19, 2017 1:41:15 GMT
How does your school district handle this? And (besides parents planning vacations) why can't spring break be used for make up days. And all these federal holidays? Well, for our district, there is no spring break, so that obviously cannot be used. Furthermore, we can get snow days right through April. By that time, the only federal holiday left to mess with is Memorial Day. And they do deduct a day from that long weekend sometimes. Our original calendar allows for both Friday & Monday off for memorial Day but we almost never get the Friday. Our district states that it prefers to add a few days to the end of the year first (up to the first 3 or 4 days) so as not to eliminate breaks from the school year, since they feel that a.) the breaks are good for morale, and b.) because they often tie in parent/teacher conferences with those breaks. After that they start deducting from the breaks. We originally are scheduled Fri. & Mon. before & after Easter, so they will deduct the Friday there, as well as the one before Memorial Day. Then, if we run out of holidays or breaks to shorten, we unfortunately have to go back to adding days to the end of the year. They won't even finalize graduation plans until nearly May because of it. Save
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stittsygirl
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,580
Location: In the leaves and rain.
Jun 25, 2014 19:57:33 GMT
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Post by stittsygirl on Feb 19, 2017 1:45:16 GMT
We currently have three days to make up, and they will be made up in June. Instead of being done the 16th my kids' last day will be the 21st, if we don't have anymore snow days.
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Post by cmpeter on Feb 19, 2017 2:37:06 GMT
I don't like the idea of deducting from other long weekends as that really messes with vacation plans.
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Post by smannes on Feb 19, 2017 2:50:09 GMT
I work at a public charter in NC. We go by hours for a school year (not days). A couple years ago we extended our school day by 15 min. to accommodate our middle school schedule. That seems to be enough to cover a couple snow/ice days a year. Other options that we've done over the years is trade out teacher workdays for school days and change half days to full days. We've also been know to add days at the end of the year - which was useless. The district I previously worked for did take away from spring break and had Saturday school. One would think those days would be empty with kids however I always had a full class. Parents would tell me it was a good time for mom and dad to spend time alone and/or do errands. Those days were usually quite useless and more like babysitting.
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Post by juanita on Feb 19, 2017 2:56:16 GMT
WOW!!! Our kids here in this province only had one day of school last week, monday and tuesday were storm days, they went on Wednesday then Thursday was a storm day and on Friday the teacher went on a 1 day strike. I don't have little kids in school anymore but we tend to have a lot of snow days in the winter and have never had to make them up. I remember one year my girls had 12 storm days.
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tduby1
Pearl Clutcher
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Jun 27, 2014 18:32:45 GMT
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Post by tduby1 on Feb 19, 2017 3:14:54 GMT
We are in MI. We have a lot of extra days built into our schedule fo account for snow days. I have kids in two districts and neither district has ever had to do any make up days and we have A LOT of missed days generally, because most schools will call it if it's too cold or back roads are too icy, too. In fact, it seems we've had more cold or ice days than actual snow days the last few years.
Oh yeah, Maybe three years ago, they did tack on an extra five minutes onto the school day the last few months in my younger kids' district, because they used up all their allotted days. I believe the plan had to be ok'd by the state.
The last few MI winters have been mild and as a result few missed days. Of course, they don't let them out of school early if they don't use all their allotted snow days.
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milocat
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Location: 55 degrees north in Alberta, Canada
Mar 18, 2015 4:10:31 GMT
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Post by milocat on Feb 19, 2017 4:30:14 GMT
Nothing. We don't have to make them up. For us school never closes, ever. Buses may don't run and then with the poor attendance that day they don't teach anything new but they don't have to make up for lost days. Maybe they have a couple days built into the year.
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scrapaddie
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Jul 8, 2014 20:17:31 GMT
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Post by scrapaddie on Feb 19, 2017 4:38:58 GMT
Our district will excuse one or two days. Teachers get charged vacation time. New teachers without vacation days lose a day's pay. If more than two days are lost, the next vacation period will lose a day. So one less day for Christmas break or Easter break. Parents get into an uproar about losing a day because of vacations and most won't send their kids to school then, even if they aren't out of town. So the district tries not to go this route. The district next to me has Saturday school for make up days. [ As a teacher, I never had vacation days! We added days to the end of the school year when needed
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Post by tommygirl on Feb 19, 2017 11:50:11 GMT
We go to a small private school located near three different counties. We have students who come from all 3 counties. Our school doesn't follow any of the counties closing but makes their own determination. The public schools are closed more than we are for snow. (I guess they have to worry about buses and rural areas that our school does not need to consider. We have 5 days built in to the schedule and if we do not use them we get them back. They usually tag them on to Easter (we only are scheduled for Good Friday and Easter Monday off) or at the end of the year. Our school also will assign work for home if they know we are having a big storm come through that will likely result in cancelled school. We have had random scheduled days off taken away, but they do not usually tag onto the end of the school year if we go over our allotted days. The public schools in our area all tag onto the end of the year. All of the teachers and neighbors with students in the public schools say it is a complete waste and nothing really gets taught--it's just doing the time. The governor has changed the dates of when school is allowed to run in our state so I do not know how/if it will affect the public school snow policy. So far this year it is a non issue as we have only used 1 snow day!
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