KANSAS CITY, Mo. — On Monday the Kansas City area saw sunny skies and temperatures in the 60s, but soon potential for heavy snow and a freeze.
The question many families will face this week is: snow days or learning from home?
The answers are very different depending on which state and school district you’re in.
“Our primary focus in this season has to be learning,” Jason Roberts, President of the Kansas City Federation of Teachers, said.
Roberts says Kansas City Public School teachers know how to make the flip to teaching out of the classroom.
“The downside is it’s a very quick pivot, oftentimes less than 15 hours,” he said.
The state of Missouri gave schools five Alternative Method Instruction days where students can continue to learn at home, online.
“We have to use them very sparingly, juggling a lot of balls with snow, cold weather and COVID-19,” Roberts said.
Roberts says if they have to use more for snow days, they’ll need to make them up.
He also said KCPS teachers have negotiated two snow days into their teaching contracts that can be used.
Roberts hopes kids will have a chance to hit the books this week.
“Let’s continue educating our children, we are entering very quickly the period of time with high stakes testing,” he said.
In Kansas, districts have access to up to five snow days and 40 hours of remote learning.
But some Kansas school districts KSHB 41 spoke with say they’ll likely call for a snow day and aren’t expecting to make the switch this week because of the large effort to get back online.
“Do my students have what they need to do the work?” Roberts said. “That means we have to operate from a position of grace and mercy. If they don’t we have to be willing to make that up when we get back to school.”
Earlier this month, some Kansas school districts took off two days because of COVID-19 illnesses.
The Kansas State Board of Education says if they need more they may not have to make them up as long as 1,116 hours of required learning are met. If they aren’t they have until June 30 to do so.
At the end of the day, school districts across the metro say it all depends on the roads and district decisions.
