For folks keeping score at home — and I know some of you are — the Lawrence school district still has one “free” snow day available to cancel classes without having to make them up.

We’ll see just how long the respite lasts.

The weather forecast doesn’t look all that promising — unless, of course, you’re a student looking to stay home. The latest maps peg the Lawrence area with a potential for 10 to 12 inches of snow Tuesday, followed by some bitter cold.

Superintendent Rick Doll will be the guy making any decision about school closures or delayed openings or early dismissals. I plan on seeing him Monday evening, during a meeting of the Lawrence Elementary School Facility Vision Task Force, and see if I can get any early scoop…

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Speaking of snow… looks like Mother Nature won’t have as much luck tripping up walkers at Kennedy School this winter.

Contractors this past summer installed a special drainage swale alongside sidewalks at the east side of Kennedy, 1605 David Road. The ground work was intended to keep water from running down the hill from the school’s playground and across the sidewalks.

The project appears to have worked. During a checkup visit last week, Tom Bracciano, the district’s division director of operations and maintenance, smiled as he reviewed the evidence: melting snow on the gentle hill, but no water — nor, more importantly, any ice — gathered on the concrete walkways.

The drains were doing their duty.

“Before we had this swale, the snow would just melt, freeze overnight, and we’d come back the next morning and put ice melt on it, we’d chip on it, we’d have to do all kinds of stuff,” Bracciano said. “We had some parents slip, we’ve had a couple custodians slip.”

If all that snow actually arrives during the next few days, the drainage system may just get another test.

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This is the final week for nominations for Lawrence Elementary and Secondary Teachers of the Year.

Julie Boyle, the district’s director of communications, is accepting nominations through 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 4. She notes that anyone — “a supervisor, colleague, parent, student, or community member” may nominate a teacher for an award.

In your letters, Boyle said, be sure to address these traits:

• Nominees should be exceptionally skilled and dedicated and inspire students of all backgrounds and abilities to learn.

• They should have the respect and admiration of students, parents and colleagues, and should play an active role in the community as well as in the school.

• Nominees should be committed to serving as leaders in efforts to improve schools, student performance and the teaching profession.

No form is necessary. To nominate a teacher, send a letter to Superintendent Rick Doll in care of Boyle at:

USD 497

110 McDonald Drive

Lawrence, KS 66044

New letters of recommendation, and all previously received letters, will be considered by a selection committee of the superintendent, a representative from the Lawrence Education Association, plus teachers who previously have been honored by the district.

The district will name two award winners, then nominate them for the Kansas Teacher of the Year program sponsored by Kansas Department of Education.

— The First Bell e-mailbox is always open: mfagan@ljworld.com.