It’s been an unusually mild winter, but that is a deviation from normalcy that area administrators are willing to accept. Over halfway through January, and neither the Warren County R-III or Wright City R-II School District has been forced to cancel a single day due to inclement weather. During a time of persistent disruptions and unpredictability, that is a welcome change.

“The last two years prior to this school year, we had snow days before Thanksgiving,” said R-III Superintendent Dr. Gregg Klinginsmith. “So we’re enjoying this nice stretch of normal schedule of school.” 

This lull in ice and snow hasn’t prevented districts from preparing for the possibility of inclement weather. And the way in which they respond to such events may look considerably different for some students. In particular, R-III is looking to implement new guidelines for days in which weather prevents class from taking place within the building. It’s a part of the AMI (Alternative Method of Instruction) model. 

“It’s new legislation that becomes active this school year,” said Klinginsmith. “It allows us to have 36 hours built in that we don’t have to make up as long as we do some sort of alternative methods that have been approved by DESE (Department of Secondary and Elementary Education).” 

For students at R-III, this would mean completing and turning in the work that’s been assigned to them by the teacher for that day. In doing so, the district is able to count that as their attendance for the day. Under this model, the first five snow days would not have to be physically made up. 

“We would be able to miss a whole week of school without having to make it up at a later day,” said Klinginsmith. “After those days are used, we would have to look at make up dates, likely at the end of the year.” 

Klinginsmith says it’s important to note that AMI is different from the virtual learning utilized by some students during COVID-19. If school were cancelled due to inclement weather, students would not have to sit at the computer for virtual class that day but would instead be responsible for completing the designated assignments.  

Wright City, which is not planning to implement AMI until the 2021-22 school year, also has room to work freely when it comes to snow days.  

“The state has you build in those 36 hours in the case of snow days,” said Berger. “How those days are handled becomes a local decision as long as you have 1,044 total hours of instruction for the year. Typically, school districts have well over 1,044 hours.” 

R-II has around 1,100 instructional hours for each of its schools. 

“From a technical sense with recent changes to the calendar we wouldn’t have to make up days,” said Berger. 

The only built-in makeup day remaining for R-II is President’s Day, and then the remainder of days would be added on to the end of the calendar. That presents a unique concern for Berger. 

“The intensity of instruction in late May or even June looks a lot different than in the middle of the semester,” said Berger. 

The district is also reluctant to use spring break as a makeup alternative, respecting families’ tendencies to plan week-long events and travel during that time. 

Next year R-II will take a new approach, making up two days in person and using AMI for the remainder. 

It may also be of importance to note that the AMI model is different from that of AMI-X, implemented by the state as an option for when school is cancelled for the long term due to COVID-19.