06-02-2025
Erie School Board discusses how to make up snow days from Black Friday snowstorm
A snowy winter has left the Erie School Board with four school days to makeup, and Wednesday night the discussion started as to what days students and teachers will be back in the classroom.
Erie's Public Schools students likely rejoiced when a massive snowstorm gave them four extra days off school following their Thanksgiving break.
But what goes up must come down, and now school officials are starting to discuss which days the students will have to make up.
'Tonight, we did propose to the school board that we make those up with four flexible instruction days where students will be able to learn from home asynchronously. That's going to be on the agenda for next week,' said Brian Polito, Erie's Public Schools superintendent.
City of Erie Streets Dept. introduces 'pothole hotline' to help clean up winter damage
The assistant superintendent proposed students return for flexible instruction during scheduled teacher in-service days in February, March and May.
The plan also proposed that June 9 be added at the end of the school year for the final snow-make-up day.
Polito said teachers will also have to come in for an additional four days for professional development on June 10-13.
Erie Public Schools like Erie High School missed four days in December due to that heavy snowfall, but deciding which days to make up isn't always an easy thing to do.
Protective cover being placed over U.S. Brig Niagara to avoid weather damage
'It's always a tough decision. We were kind of taken off guard by the snowstorm that had hit on Thanksgiving. The students were actually home the week of Thanksgiving so we were not prepared to have them do asynchronous. We did not send them home with work or devices,' said Polito.
Polito said ideally they would have done flexible instruction days during the storm, but one way or another the schools have to be open for 180 days a year.
Erie School Board will vote to approve or deny the snow make-up days at next week's school board meeting.
In other business, Erie's Public Schools search for a superintendent continues with the last of the three finalists set to do her public forum session Thursday night.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
