Snow days-how many need to be made up?

Howard-Winneshiek - 

So far none have to be made up. There are still 13.7 hours left in reserve before days have to be added on.

With all the snow and cold weather during the first two months of 2019, Howard-Winneshiek Schools have had to cancel classes or start late or leave early for the safety of the students. That includes seven full days for weather and one for wrestling.

How-Winn, along with many other school districts in the state of Iowa, changed from attending school 180 days to attending for 1,080 hours in the 2014-15 school year. 

Knowing how unpredictable winter weather can be, members of the board of education built in 79.1 hours dedicated to time off.

Supt. Ted Ihns noted as of Friday, the district still has 13.7 hours left, which amounts to approximately two full days. “Depending on what happens with the weather and other issues that may cause delays, early outs or cancellations, we are looking at possibly revisiting the calendar and seeing if there are any days that are currently designated for professional development days or vacation days that we could change to instructional days.”

He added, “Another option would be to add on hours after the original ending date of school in May. No decision has been made at this time, and we are just in the preliminary discussion at this time on what would be the next steps if we need to make up hours past what we had built in for this year.”