When school is out

     Through Feb. 4 the Monticello Community School District has cancelled school on seven days, had two-hour delays on four occasions, and six days in which school had unscheduled early-outs.

     Such eventful and unpredictable weather conditions have resulted in many questions from parents, students and other community members about the effects of these scheduling changes.

     With the help of comments at the Jan. 28 school board meeting from Superintendent Brian Jaeger, and a separate interview with Jaeger Jan. 31, the following is an attempt to answer most of the common ones.

     Q: When will the last day of school be?

     A: If there are no more snow days, the last day for classes will be Wednesday, June 5. This does not affect seniors, who will finish classes May 22.

     The last day was going to be June 7, but two scheduling adjustments were made. A Feb. 18 professional development day was moved to Jan. 31, so Feb. 18 has now become a school day. And school principals approved a plan making the April 1 collaboration day a school day instead.

     “The time will be made up by teachers outside of normal school hours,” Jaeger said.

     Q: Has the district set a record by cancelling seven days of school?

     A: Over the past 20 years, it ties the district’s record.

     Q: How many school days are required by law?

     A: School districts have the option of having 180 days or 1080 hours of classroom time; Monticello goes by hours (teachers, however, go by days; their contracts require 195 days).

     The MCSD calendar scheduled 1127 hours, and the 47 extra ones are used to cover delays and early-outs. But missed days are added to the end of the school calendar.

     Q: What will the district do if more snow days happen?

     A: June 6 and 7 are currently open for use if necessary.

     “I do not want to extend the school year past the end of that week if possible. I think our community would appreciate having those days off in June rather than now,” Jaeger said.

     Q: Why aren’t snow days built into the district calendar, as they used to be?

     A: State law now dictates that no district can begin the first semester before Aug. 23. That makes it impossible for the MCSD to schedule snow days and still end the school year by Memorial Day, without cutting into either spring break or the winter break.

     Q: Could more of the scheduled collaboration days and professional development days be used as school days if needed?

     A: State law requires six collaboration days, and that is how many are scheduled. PD days could be used, but Jaeger said that because of new initiatives such as Standards Referenced Reporting, 1-to-1 technology, and new state assessments, those sessions are needed.

     “We could have fewer PD days, but we have several initiatives going on,” Jaeger said. “Otherwise it would be hard to expect the staff to be trained (for the initiatives). They need to have support throughout the year.”

     Q: Could part of spring break be threatened if more makeup days are needed?

     A: Only as a last resort, Jaeger said.

     “Spring break is an extreme option, and our last option,” he said. “I’d hate to take any of those days off of the calendar. During spring break, several of our high school students and staff will be overseas on a school trip. That, and the fact that families use spring break for planned family activities, would make spring break difficult to use for makeup days.”

     Q: How is it determined when school needs to be closed?

     A: Often it is decided the night before, which Jaeger said most people prefer for planning purposes. If the decision needs to be made before the school day, Jaeger said he and transportation director Mike Wink get up about 5 a.m. and drive different routes to check road conditions.

     “Then, by about 5:45, we call and talk about what our situation is,” Jaeger said. “By that time I’ve already been in communication with several other area superintendents, I’ve been on the KCRG website and every other site you can get on. We try to make the decision based on as much data as we can get.

     “Then we make the call. I’ll call Judy (Hayen, board secretary), and we’ll try to get the word out by 6.”

     Q: How much is the MCSD influenced by neighboring districts when those decisions are made?

     A: “That doesn’t dictate what we do,” Jaeger said, “but if you’re the only school district that doesn’t have an early-out, for example, and we have an accident, people are very critical about those kinds of things.

     “Every time, I’d rather err on the side of caution. Nobody gives you a blue ribbon for toughing it out and (staying in school) one more day than everybody else.”