Snow days extension in the works as bill moved to committee

 

LANSING — After a rare blizzard and months of tricky winter weather, it is nearly testing season for Otsego County students.

But as schools prepare students for tests like the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress (M-STEP) and SAT, teachers and staff are countering for missed days because of the weather.

Katy Xenakis-Makowski, Johannesburg-Lewiston Area Schools superintendent and regional president of the Michigan Association of School Administrators, updated her district’s board of education last week on snow days and how the missed time relates to testing prep.

At the meeting, Xenakis-Makowski said she attended a Northern Michigan legislature meeting focused on helping schools with the impacts from snow days.

“They’d like us to continue to talk to our legislators about the impact snow days has from all the angles,” she told the board.

She said the dates for state tests are not changing. J-L lost 15 days of instruction so far prior to testing that starts next month, she said.

Some districts, like Gaylord Community Schools, also build several extra days into their calendars from the beginning of the year.

As of Monday morning, Gaylord has canceled 18 days this school year for weather, St. Mary Cathedral School has also had 18, J-L has seen 15 days and Vanderbilt Area School has canceled for weather 18 times.

Xenakis-Makowski said simply adding additional school days at the end of the year doesn’t help to properly prepare students when it’s most needed.

“There are a couple bills in the House that are still being amended and changed. So we’ll see what we end up getting, but I did work on the report to get us at least three days on top of the (existing) six,” she said during her superintendent report to the board. “One option may be to add minutes to the day, but only in 30-minute chunks because they say just adding a minute to class really doesn’t do much.”

Xenakis-Makowski referenced House Bill 4206.

The bill was introduced in the state House by Rep. Ben Frederick, R- Owosso, Feb. 19 and on March 12 it was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

According to the bill’s summary, schools are currently expected to provide a minimum of 1,098 instructional hours and 180 days of instruction.

The state already allows schools an automatic six days for weather cancellations, plus an additional three that schools would then need to request forgiveness for.

“The first six days of instruction that are not provided because of conditions beyond the control of school authorities (including severe storms, fires, epidemics, utility power unavailability, or other specified events) are ‘forgiven’ and counted toward the 180-day/1,098-hour instruction requirement,” reads part of the bill’s summary.

The bill would give an exception for schools in meeting those minimum number of days of student instruction dictated in the State School Aid Act, when Michigan’s governor has declared a state of emergency, according to the document.

“The bill would provide that, on days when instruction was not provided because the governor had declared a state of emergency, those hours or days would likewise be counted toward the requirement,” reads HB 4206’s summary.

Gaylord’s original tentative last day of school was scheduled for June 13, however according to a previous Herald Times story last month, Superintendent Brian Pearson said said the projected last day of school may change if there were more cancellations.

In an email Monday, Pearson said the district is “awaiting the results of HB 4206 and dry roads to become the norm in Northern Michigan” before deciding the last day of school.

“The weather pattern this year has created some very unique and challenging situations for every district in Northern Michigan,” Pearson said. “In Gaylord, we are considering several factors, including the status of HB 4206 as we work to determine when the final student day will be scheduled.”

He said at this point it is not possible to determine when the last day will be.

“There are too many unknown factors,” Pearson said. “We anticipate having the answers we need soon, which will enable us to release specific information around mid-April.”

As of Monday morning, HB 4206 was still in committee.

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