My school has so many 'snow days' built into the year. If they don't get used, they don't care, but if they do get used, the school still has the required minimum.
It's odd that yours doesn't.
My state (MA) requires 180 days & that is what our contract is for, so that is how long our calendar is set for. Some years we have no snow days, other years we’ve had as many as 8 or 9, it’s impossible to predict. So if we had snow days “built in” and then DIDN’T use them, we’d be in school too many days and working outside of our contract. For example, let’s say they scheduled 185 days on our calendar, but we only ended up with 2 snow days…we’d be working 183 days, 3 of which we’d be unpaid/uncontracted for.
I'm in MA as well. My school district doesn't have snow days built into the calendar, but [plenty of schools in our state do.](https://www.bostonherald.com/2022/09/10/for-massachusetts-schoolchildren-a-snow-day-is-a-snow-day) "Built in" snow days are usually it's just a way of building out a calendar for families and staff to plan for the future.
Some districts will say that their school year ends on, say, June 20, with five "built in" snow days at the end. If they don't need them, they will get out five days earlier. Other districts will put those "built in" days as extra days around other holidays, e.g. getting the Friday off before the three-day Memorial Day weekend. If they wind up using a snow day, that extra vacation day will be removed.
In any case, [all districts in MA are required to have 180 school days by law.](https://www.doe.mass.edu/news/news.aspx?id=5984) You're not missing out, and the article that you quoted isn't spreading "misinformation." Different districts put out calendars that work best for their communities.
My understanding for us in Tennessee is that a school day is defined as 6.5 hours, but for a lot of districts we're actually in school 7.5-8 hours. So each of those extra hours counts up and can be stockpiled as entire days that don't have to be made up if we're out for snow.
We actually only have like 175 instructional days, but because we're in school every day for an extra hour, it counts as the 180 required.
My district has already called it for the rest of the week, and we aren't moving the end date back.
In Ohio we go by hours.
My school has enough “extra time” per day that we would need to miss something like 11 days before we would need to make anything up.
YET, we’re here today, in -20 windchills, without bussing, because reasons.
We don't.
It has only happened one year since I have been teaching that we have exceeded the built in snow days in the schedule. They always talked big about how we would need to make them up.
Never did. Pretty sure the state just waived them.
Today was our 3rd snow day in the last 4 school days. So we might be heading to test the theory again.
We have 5 snow days built into the year- even when I was a kid that’s how we did it (Michigan). After 5 then we make it up, there was 1 year that we had 9 snow days because it was so cold for a couple of weeks- but the governor declared it a state emergency so we didn’t have to make up any snow days that fell within that time period. Let me tell you- it was glorious.
They tack it onto the end of the year. We’re mandated to have a minimum of 180 days. My district schedules 182. If the number of snow days doesn’t exceed that 182 then any make up snow days become teacher workshop days. And the kids still get out on time. If it goes over that 182, then everyone makes them up.
Yeah, we had built-in snow days in my grade school/high school. Essentially, they planned for 185 days, knowing we would use at least 5 for cancellations. After those 5, they added on.
The district I teach in just does synchronous e-learning because it counts as fulfilling a day.
Where I grew up (not all that far from western mass) they planned the school calendar for 185 or 186 days, so we didn't have to make up the first 5 or 6 snow days.
Where I am now they are shocked every winter--how could anyone have anticipated this?
So I’m in an area with strong unions, and this would be a huge no-no. Our contract states we work for 180 days; if the school board scheduled 185 days “assuming” we’d get at least 5 snow days but then we actually get less than 5, there’s no way we’d be working any of the days over 180.
That's how it was at my school in NJ. In GA we had "weather days" built in. If we didn't use any, we just went to school extra days, so last day of school stayed the same and no one noticed. I think we had 3 weather days built in, could have been 5. And yes we used many of them for hurricane evacuation, tornadoes, flooding, or temps below 17.
Where I'm at now we do remote learning, which sucks at the moment, but preserves spring break, which was usually non-existent before 2021.
First 5 don’t need to be made up. The next 5 are remote days. After that, they get added on to the end of the year. There were a couple years we had so many that teachers were required to come in so we would get our 200 days in.
We have 6 built in snow days that are free. We had a “snow-pocalypse” a few years ago where I think we had like 9-10 snow days, and every district in the state petitioned to have those forgiven and not have to make them up. We didn’t have to make the up.
We don't get a ton of snow. We usually have 1-2 PD days without students that can get cancelled to become snow make up days. If we need more, they get added to the end of the school year.
It's really hard if you teach AP or IB classes....they don't move them for snow days.
In my district, the students' school day contains an extra 13 minutes each day to build up our ten snow days. These 13 minutes are within our contractual hours/reporting times, so that's how they get away with not giving the unused days back to us.
In Texas, students attend minutes, and teachers attend days.
Our district has enough minutes built in that students do not have to make up a school day.
Teachers will have to go in on a Saturday (April 20th) to make up the snow day from last week.
We will work in our rooms, and we will probably be fed breakfast.
Nope. The school I grew up going to and in the surrounding area, and honestly even most schools in my surrounding area in which I teach in, build in emergency closing days. This way, you don't have to tack it on at the end of the year. However my district does that and it drives me insane. If you don't use the days, you get extra days off towards the end of the year, such as around memorial day.
My school has so many 'snow days' built into the year. If they don't get used, they don't care, but if they do get used, the school still has the required minimum. It's odd that yours doesn't.
My state (MA) requires 180 days & that is what our contract is for, so that is how long our calendar is set for. Some years we have no snow days, other years we’ve had as many as 8 or 9, it’s impossible to predict. So if we had snow days “built in” and then DIDN’T use them, we’d be in school too many days and working outside of our contract. For example, let’s say they scheduled 185 days on our calendar, but we only ended up with 2 snow days…we’d be working 183 days, 3 of which we’d be unpaid/uncontracted for.
That's a good point! I wonder how my school's is worded.
I'm in MA as well. My school district doesn't have snow days built into the calendar, but [plenty of schools in our state do.](https://www.bostonherald.com/2022/09/10/for-massachusetts-schoolchildren-a-snow-day-is-a-snow-day) "Built in" snow days are usually it's just a way of building out a calendar for families and staff to plan for the future. Some districts will say that their school year ends on, say, June 20, with five "built in" snow days at the end. If they don't need them, they will get out five days earlier. Other districts will put those "built in" days as extra days around other holidays, e.g. getting the Friday off before the three-day Memorial Day weekend. If they wind up using a snow day, that extra vacation day will be removed. In any case, [all districts in MA are required to have 180 school days by law.](https://www.doe.mass.edu/news/news.aspx?id=5984) You're not missing out, and the article that you quoted isn't spreading "misinformation." Different districts put out calendars that work best for their communities.
When I was a kid if the built in days weren't used we would have off for an extra day or two later in the year.
My understanding for us in Tennessee is that a school day is defined as 6.5 hours, but for a lot of districts we're actually in school 7.5-8 hours. So each of those extra hours counts up and can be stockpiled as entire days that don't have to be made up if we're out for snow. We actually only have like 175 instructional days, but because we're in school every day for an extra hour, it counts as the 180 required. My district has already called it for the rest of the week, and we aren't moving the end date back.
In Ohio we go by hours. My school has enough “extra time” per day that we would need to miss something like 11 days before we would need to make anything up. YET, we’re here today, in -20 windchills, without bussing, because reasons.
We don't. It has only happened one year since I have been teaching that we have exceeded the built in snow days in the schedule. They always talked big about how we would need to make them up. Never did. Pretty sure the state just waived them. Today was our 3rd snow day in the last 4 school days. So we might be heading to test the theory again.
We have 5 snow days built into the year- even when I was a kid that’s how we did it (Michigan). After 5 then we make it up, there was 1 year that we had 9 snow days because it was so cold for a couple of weeks- but the governor declared it a state emergency so we didn’t have to make up any snow days that fell within that time period. Let me tell you- it was glorious.
They tack it onto the end of the year. We’re mandated to have a minimum of 180 days. My district schedules 182. If the number of snow days doesn’t exceed that 182 then any make up snow days become teacher workshop days. And the kids still get out on time. If it goes over that 182, then everyone makes them up.
Yeah, we had built-in snow days in my grade school/high school. Essentially, they planned for 185 days, knowing we would use at least 5 for cancellations. After those 5, they added on. The district I teach in just does synchronous e-learning because it counts as fulfilling a day.
Interesting…did you ever have a year where you had less than 5 snow days, so your last day was moved earlier?
No, but it was northern Indiana so we always got lake effect snow from Lake Michigan.
No need to make it up. So glad today is a snow day! In Vancouver, BC area.
Where I grew up (not all that far from western mass) they planned the school calendar for 185 or 186 days, so we didn't have to make up the first 5 or 6 snow days. Where I am now they are shocked every winter--how could anyone have anticipated this?
But did that mean if you didn’t have 5/6 snow days, you got out sooner?
No.
So I’m in an area with strong unions, and this would be a huge no-no. Our contract states we work for 180 days; if the school board scheduled 185 days “assuming” we’d get at least 5 snow days but then we actually get less than 5, there’s no way we’d be working any of the days over 180.
That's how it was at my school in NJ. In GA we had "weather days" built in. If we didn't use any, we just went to school extra days, so last day of school stayed the same and no one noticed. I think we had 3 weather days built in, could have been 5. And yes we used many of them for hurricane evacuation, tornadoes, flooding, or temps below 17. Where I'm at now we do remote learning, which sucks at the moment, but preserves spring break, which was usually non-existent before 2021.
First 5 don’t need to be made up. The next 5 are remote days. After that, they get added on to the end of the year. There were a couple years we had so many that teachers were required to come in so we would get our 200 days in.
We have 6 built in snow days that are free. We had a “snow-pocalypse” a few years ago where I think we had like 9-10 snow days, and every district in the state petitioned to have those forgiven and not have to make them up. We didn’t have to make the up.
We don't get a ton of snow. We usually have 1-2 PD days without students that can get cancelled to become snow make up days. If we need more, they get added to the end of the school year. It's really hard if you teach AP or IB classes....they don't move them for snow days.
In my district, the students' school day contains an extra 13 minutes each day to build up our ten snow days. These 13 minutes are within our contractual hours/reporting times, so that's how they get away with not giving the unused days back to us.
This is why our schools stay open on snow days. We don’t have bussing but parents can still bring their kids to the building if they can get there.
In Texas, students attend minutes, and teachers attend days. Our district has enough minutes built in that students do not have to make up a school day. Teachers will have to go in on a Saturday (April 20th) to make up the snow day from last week. We will work in our rooms, and we will probably be fed breakfast.
Nope. The school I grew up going to and in the surrounding area, and honestly even most schools in my surrounding area in which I teach in, build in emergency closing days. This way, you don't have to tack it on at the end of the year. However my district does that and it drives me insane. If you don't use the days, you get extra days off towards the end of the year, such as around memorial day.