Once again, Austin Public School students had the day off on Monday.

Tuesday, March 13, 2001

Once again, Austin Public School students had the day off on Monday. A winter storm created hazardous road conditions, prompting schools Superintendent Jim Hess to cancel classes.

The school year calendar for 2000-2001 designates 176 student-teacher contact days. A total of three days are built in for snow cancellations, Hess said Monday afternoon. Human Resources Director Julie Jensen confirmed Monday’s snow day now put the district in a situation where a day will need to be made up.

The days in which students leave school early or arrive late because of the weather are not part of the three-day count.

Hess said no decision on how to make up snow days will be made before the possibility of additional storms passes, around the end of March.

"We will need to make plans to set up another instructional day," Jensen said. "We have not done so yet."

Hess will discuss possible ways of making up the days with employees of the district and the Austin Education Association.

"We’ll work through the ideas for building those days back into the structure," Hess said. Options include "recapturing" a day not intended for student-teacher contact, such as at the end of the grading period or an in-service day, lengthening the school day or scheduling school on some Saturdays, Hess said.

After discussion, the recommendations will be brought before the school board, at which time the board will adopt a revised calendar with the changes included.