It's also caused some administrators to look over their policies and determine how best to proceed when weather forces classes to be canceled. Warren County R-III Superintendent Dr. John Long addressed concerns from patrons who questioned the district's policy on canceling classes due to inclement weather at a school board meeting Jan. 22. Long acknowledged the district has received complaints from parents who say they weren't contacted if school was dismissed early or disagreed when classes were either held or canceled. "Nobody wants to be going to the Fourth of July, but no one wants to send students to school in an unsafe situation," Long said. Right now, the last day of classes in the R-III district has been pushed back to May 27. One makeup day will occur on Presidents Day, Feb. 16. Other days where students will be session are May 21-22 and May 26-27. Spring break is scheduled for March 9-13 and is protected - meaning no snow days will be made up during that time unless the school board chooses to amend those dates. In the Wright City R-II School District, the last day of school will now be May 29. Students will attend classes March 16-17 during spring break and also will be in session following Memorial Day, May 26-29. Elsewhere, the Washington School District's last day has been pushed back to May 28. The last day for other local schools - Holy Rosary, St. Ignatius, St. Vincent and Liberty Christian - has yet to be altered. Long believes his district is doing a better job of contacting parents and guardians to inform them when school won't be in session. When school is canceled, administrators contact local radio stations and St. Louis area television stations. The district also uses the school outreach program to contact parents by phone should school be canceled. Long said it's the district's intentions to have school canceled by 5:30 a.m. "It's not a perfect system," Long remarked. "Sometimes we will have individual parents who say I didn't get called for whatever reason. But we have been doing a better job on our communication than we've ever done in the past in terms of notifying people." R-II Superintendent Chris Gaines prefers to call school off the night before. However, that's not always the case depending on when a winter storm rolls through the area. Both superintendents say they check out roads early in the morning and often talk with one another to get a gauge if roads are passable before a final decision is reached. "Ultimately, you make the decision on whether the busses can run and if the kids are going to be safe," Gaines said.