Whenever there’s a forecast of snow storms in West Michigan, it always triggers a wave of excitement throughout the school. Snow days give an extra day of rest to students but it also means cramming information into the curriculum in a shorter amount of time than to begin with.

“A snow day causes our staff to readjust their lessons in order to cover the material that is expected from them,” Keith Konarska, Superintendent of Grand Haven Area Public Schools said. “The entire trimester changes and in some cases teachers have to decide what material to keep and what to remove if there are too many days off.”

Grand Haven School District is allowed to have six days off per year due to weather conditions whether it’s snow, ice, or fog. This season we have had six.  If we have anymore the district would need to add days to the calendar or minutes to each day to comply with state-mandated days and hours.

“While an occasional snow day can serve as a nice break for students and staff, our primary job is to educate students,” Konarska said. “When you have as many snow days as we have had this year, it can begin to have a disadvantageous effect on student learning.”

Adjustments to the schedule due to snow days (adding days or minutes) will most likely occur around spring break so that most of the winter weather has passed. If we do add days to the calendar, it will not affect seniors, only underclassmen.

 Determining a snow day is not just a look-out-the-window decision. It involves many other steps and can also be quite stressful.

“The decision to close schools because of weather is made in cooperation with state, county and local authorities,” Konarska said. “This typically includes an assessment of road conditions across our 100-square-mile area by district staff including the Transportation Director, Lead Mechanic, a veteran bus driver and myself.”