Northwest Arkansas school districts plan for winter weather

Yahoo

18-02-2025

NORTHWEST ARKANSAS (KNWA/KFTA) — Some schools in Northwest Arkansas are taking a new approach this year to the traditional understanding of snow days, giving districts a certain amount of buffer days to use in the school year.
Rogers Public Schools superintendent Jeff Perry said even before getting to making a decision about what happens during potential winter weather storms, the district watches a variety of weather forecasts to make these decisions.
'As we begin to look at those, we begin to determine if they're all saying the same thing. And if they're all saying the same thing, that gives us a little bit more degree of comfort with that particular predication,' said Perry.
Perry said trying to make predictions about the weather comes hand in hand with trying to make announcements to families.
It's pertinent to get those announcements out as soon as possible because families need time to figure out things like childcare or work schedules, according to Perry.
Springdale Public Schools announces 'Student Catch-Up' days ahead of winter weather
'However, there's sometimes where we don't really know for sure if that weather is coming in, we have to do it in the morning and we do apologize about that,' said the Rogers superintendent.
In Rogers, Perry said the district has three and a half 'bank days' in their school calendar that can be used for traditional snow days.
These 'bank days' allow the district some room to have necessary days off without adding makeup days to the end of the school year.
If the Rogers district goes over, Perry said some days would be added from the end of May to the beginning of June, instead of adjusting spring break.
Under the Arkansas LEARNS Act, schools' alternative learning days could not count toward instructional days, meaning no new items could be learned remotely like AMI was intended for.
Springdale Schools take on a similar approach to Rogers' 'bank days,' allowing students to still talk to teachers to help them get back up to speed on studies with 'Catch Up' days.
Arkansas public school students no longer receiving AMI days; how this is impacted by LEARNS Act
'This year, we moved our academic calendar to be counted by minutes, and so when we tallied up all of the minutes, we ended up having a bank of five days that we could dedicate as student 'Catch Up' days in the event of inclement weather,' said Rogers Schools Public information officer Trent Jones.
He said that these days are optional for students to be supported digitally if they choose to, but there would be no new homework.
'So, if we don't use them, the last day of school is the last day of school. If we do use them, the last day of school is the last day of school,' said Jones, 'Now, if we end up having six inclement weather days, then we start adding to the end.'
'Catch Up' days, however, are different than the district 'Life Safety' days which implies there is more than just a travel concern.
Jones explained that when a tornado hit George Elementary School, the district shut down and implemented those 'Life Safety' days.
'We want these children to have ownership of their education, knowing that our faculty staff are always there to support them, even through inclement weather days,' said Jones.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.