photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

A mini-snowplow clears a pedestrian path along East 23rd Street in early January 2024.

Snow days have quickly accumulated for the Lawrence school district, and that means the academic calendar will likely be extended by a yet-to-be determined number of hours.

The severe winter weather this month resulted in districtwide school closures on Jan. 9, 10, 16 and 22. And now instructional hours across all grade levels are projected to be below the minimum required number, 1,116, set by the state.

“Typically, we build additional hours on our calendar to account for things like this, and we also build in snow days,” Superintendent Anthony Lewis said. “But we’re at the max now in terms of having to pick those up.”

District spokesperson Julie Boyle told the Journal-World on Thursday that district officials were in the process of determining the number of minutes/hours that need to be made up per grade level, and a recommendation will eventually be brought to the school board for consideration. Since the state allows only certain activities to be counted as instructional time, Boyle said that the formula for making those calculations is complex.

“We also have different start and dismissal times and schedules across our schools,” Boyle said.

According to Boyle, the number of inclement weather days built into the district’s calendar directly correlates with the number of days or hours that are forgiven by the state.

“If districts build a make-up day into the calendar, and use it, the state ‘forgives’ an inclement weather day,” she said.

The district has only one board-approved inclement weather day built into its calendar, scheduled for April 15. Boyle confirmed that it’s been converted to a “duty day” for staff, and classes will be held districtwide.

As far as making a determination on snow days, Lewis makes the final call after the district’s Facilities and Operations department examines the roads and relays that information back to him.

“All of these decisions were made, and are made, with safety in mind,” he said. “We always try to give as much advance notice as possible of our school closings.”

Lewis said that it’s ideal to have a decision the night before classes, but sometimes those announcements are not made until 6 a.m. on the day of classes, which he acknowledged could put parents in a bind.

“We know those next-morning announcements sometimes cause an inconvenience for arranging child care,” he said. “We can control a lot of things in the school district, but the weather is not one of them.”