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Washington School District adds make-up days for weather cancellations

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Washington School District students will be in class Feb. 19 while many have the day off for Presidents Day, after the district exhausted the make-up days it had built into the calendar for weather cancellations.

The school board, at a workshop session Saturday, added Feb. 19 and several more potential school days to the calendar to make up for any future weather cancellations.

The district had three “inclement weather” make-up days built into the 2017-18 school year calendar, but has already used them and had to cancel classes for a fourth time Wednesday when the city was covered in ice.

“Being new to the district, I inherited the calendar that was approved prior to my arrival,” said Superintendent James Konrad, who was hired March 27. “We’ve had a rough winter, so we always want to make sure we put our students’ safety first.”

The board came up with two more potential make-up days in case the city sees more snow and ice this year – April 2, the day after Easter, and May 15, when students would typically be off due to the primary.

Konrad said those additional days would give the district a “little bit of a cushion” before days would have to be tacked on to the end of the school year.

The district has also had five two-hour delays so far this year.

“There’s no limit to how many delays we can have, but honestly, it’s a challenging call to make,” Konrad said. “We use those to give the city a little more time in the morning to treat the roads and sidewalks. I don’t want to risk my students getting hurt.”

Konrad said the five delays equal more than one missed day of school for children.

“I’m very aware of how that impacts instructional time,” he said.

The board decided on five weather days for next year’s calendar and wants to fit in two more, so the district won’t be in a similar situation.

“That was part of our discussion today – to focus on future calendars and building in additional weather days,” he said. “We’re trying to make some really smart changes.”

Also discussed at the meeting were three of the district’s goals for the future: improving student achievement, building technology infrastructure and integrating technology into learning, and building positive relationships with the community.

“Ultimately, these are the priorities,” Konrad said.

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