Local Schools Adjust Schedules After Winter Closures

Yellow school bus in city street — Source: 9parusnikov / Getty

After a rough stretch of winter weather earlier this year, several central Ohio school districts are making changes to their schedules to stay in compliance with states time requirements.

A series of historical snowstorms in January forced repeated closures across the state. Combined with ice and extreme cold, the disruptions added up quickly, pushing some districts close to (or below) the minimum number of instructional hours required by the state.

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For the past decade, Ohio has operated on an hourly system rather than counting school days. Depending on grade level, districts must meet between 910 and 1,001 instructional hours each year. Once schools fall short, they’re required to make up that time.

State law gives districts some flexibility in how they recover lost time. In addition to extending days or adding calendar dates, schools can also use online instruction to help fill gaps.

Some districts have already made adjustments.

In Reynoldsburg, the solution was to extend the school day. Starting in early February, students began arriving five minutes earlier and leaving five minutes later, adding 10 minutes of instruction daily through the end of the school year. The district also used Presidents Day as a make-up day.

Columbus City Schools reported that a small group of schools dipped below the required threshold. Instead of adding days, officials are modifying daily schedules (including adjusting lunch periods) to recover lost time without extending the school year.

Other districts are handling it differently, largely due to how their contracts are structured.

Some, like New Albany, Bexley and Whitehall, still operate under agreements that reference the old “calamity day” system. In those cases, make-up days are often built into the calendar ahead of time.

Multiple districts Gahanna, Dublin, Hilliard, Olentangy and Westerville reported coming close to the minimum hour requirement, though not all have needed to make immediate changes.