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Snow days unite students, staff
Bad weather might annoy, but a day off is a day off for schools
Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2011
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by EMILY BARNES
Jean Pompell shovels snow around her mailbox on Friday as it snows. The county received 3 to 4 inches overnight Jan. 26, causing schools to close Thursday.
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Teachers and students might have little in common, but in the winter months they share a universal love, it seems, for snow days.
"It's almost like a present; it's a day off," Virginia McGraw, principal of J.P. Ryon Elementary School, said about snow closings and delays.
McGraw said teachers get just as excited as the students when snow is in the forecast.
Barbara Anderson, fourth-grade teacher at Mount Hope/Nanjemoy Elementary School, said the afternoon before a potential snow day, she might say to her students, "Wear your pajamas inside out; do your snow dance." Many teachers and students know those are two ways to ensure the white stuff falls overnight, causing schools to be closed, she said jokingly.
Anderson said in the beginning of the winter she feels her students can sense that she is just as excited as they are to have a day off. Though instead of sledding, she and other teachers might spend the day working to make up for lost time.
Last week, during a snow day, Anderson said she spent several hours writing report cards. She said working from home is nice and is an added bonus when snow comes.
Charles County Public Schools has seen its fair share of snow days this winter, with Jan. 27 marking the fourth weather-related closing.
According to data from the National Weather Service, the Washington, D.C., area has seen more than 6 inches of snow in December and January of this school year.
The majority of the snowfall came in late January where areas of the county received 3 to 4 inches overnight on Wednesday — Jan. 26 — causing schools to close that Thursday.
Icy conditions have caused the schools to close early and or open two hours early this winter, school spokeswoman Katie O'Malley-Simpson said.
O'Malley-Simpson said during mornings when roads are particularly icy, the school system may opt to open two hours early, allowing for temperatures to rise, some ice to melt and bus drivers to transport children in the daylight.
O'Malley-Simpson said the school system makes its decisions to close early, open late or not open at all based on weather reports, and information from local law enforcement and the county roads department.
"Sometimes we can only make the best educated guess based on the information we have," she said. "It is a tough call when there is nothing on the ground, but we always err on the side of safety."
The school system has four days built into the calendar for emergency closings, meaning four missed instructional days do not have to be made up.
If not used, they will be deducted from the June 20 closing date. In the event that numerous harsh weather conditions or other events require the use of more than four days, school days will be added during spring break in the following order, April 18, 19, 20 and 21.
When a scheduled school break is on the line, Anderson said students and teachers lose a little of their excitement.
She said some of her students don't seem as excited since there already have been so many days off and delays, and it becomes a matter of taking away from spring break.
Anderson said snow days are still good, but at this stage in the winter, "let's save them for the weekend. In the beginning its fun, now we're not as excited."
Last school year, the area was hit by 24 inches of snow in December and hit big again in February with more than two feet of snow.
O'Malley-Simpson said the school system lucked out and did not have to miss instruction time during the December 2009 snow, since schools already were closed due to winter break.
The schools did not have so much luck in the February 2010 storm.
Students missed seven days of school last year. Due to the significant amount of snow at one time, the state gave the county a waiver for up to five of the missed days.
State Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick granted the waiver due to the school system's effort to make up the days by changing scheduled two-hour early dismissal days for regular school days.
As a result of the waiver, the school system was able to close schools for the entire spring break.
In the 2007 to 2008 school year, the school system only used two snow days. In May 2007, students missed two additional days of school due to heavy rains on May 12. The state granted a waiver, O'Malley-Simpson said, for those two days as the closure was so late in the year and the last day of school and summer program schedules already had been established.
The year before, in 2006, students had three school days canceled for weather, one two-hour early dismissal and two, two-hour delays.
Schools missed seven days of school in 2003 and 2004, three of which were due to a hurricane.
For information on school cancellations, go to www.ccboe.com or call the 24-hour hotline at 301-934-7410 or 301-932-6656. Parents also can sign up for an e-mail notification at www.schoolsout.com.
