How Many ‘Snow Days’ Is Too Many for Northwest Louisiana?

For many area school districts, today makes three days missed due to wintry weather moving through our area.

The exception is DeSoto Parish Public Schools, which were already out Monday for teacher in-service day. Superintendent Cade Brumley told me most districts have bad weather days built into school calendars. What happens if too many days are missed?

"We have some days identified in our schedule where students are currently out that we could transition to actual instructional days, where students would be on campus," Dr. Brumley said. "And then there's also the possibility that if that did not work out, or if that was not in the best interest of students in the system, then we could just tack those days on to the end of the year."

Dr. Brumley said student safety is always the top priority. If roadways will be dangerous for drivers, districts will make the decision to close the schools first, then figure out later how to make up any extra days. He said first, they'd look at what holidays are coming up before the end of the school year, and use those as instructional days.

Brumley said in his time as superintendent, he hasn't witnessed a time that too many days were missed due to weather.

"We have come close over the three years, but we've never been over the mark. I remember one time as a school principal we had to deal with that, but we were able to add some minutes onto each day and were able to cover it that way," he said. "There are a number of different ways that it can be worked out, but rest assured, we're going to make decisions in the best interest of our students, and we will get those instructional minutes made up."

He said if there's a change in the schedule, parents will be notified well in advance.

Caddo and Bossier Public Schools have been out the past three days. Caddo Superintendent Lamar Goree told us about the plan in his district.

"What we will do starting when we return to work is we'll look at our instructional minutes," Dr. Goree said. "As of now, we believe we have the minutes built into our current calendar, so that we'll be O.K. But we'll certainly verify that. And if necessary, we'll have to add on appropriate time somewhere before school's out."