Snow closed Whatcom County schools this month. Here’s how those days will be made up
The storms that dumped ice and snow on Whatcom County this month — making roads slick and dangerous — closed schools here, which means students will have to make up those snow days.
Whatcom County schools were closed for the entire week starting Jan. 13, or for much of it.
Just how much longer the school year will be extended is still being decided by some school districts, in part, their superintendents say, because winter isn’t over.
“It’s also only January, so we have that to consider as well,” said Mark Johnson, superintendent for the Nooksack Valley School District.
Some districts also will ask the state Office of the Superintendent for Public Instruction to waive some of the days that were missed, officials said. The state requires school districts to provide a minimum of 180 school days.
Here’s what school districts are doing, so far, to make up the difference.
Bellingham
Students didn’t go to school Tuesday through Friday.
Bellingham School District hasn’t yet decided what it will do, but high school graduation dates might be moved to make up for the snow days, according to spokeswoman Dana Smith.
“We’ll communicate calendar updates with staff and families as soon as we can, knowing we still need to navigate the rest of the winter season,” she said to The Bellingham Herald.
A decision about high school graduation dates will be made no later than Feb. 28, Smith said.
Blaine
School was closed Wednesday through Friday because of snow.
“Student safety is always our No. 1 concern,” said Christopher Granger, superintendent for the Blaine School District.
To make up for that, students will go to school June 11, 12 and 15 — previously designated makeup days, Granger said.
“We’ll stick with those because that’s the calendar we communicated out to parents,” he said.
Ferndale
“Winter weather impacted the Ferndale School District for five days — two when we had to delay the start of school and three when we had to cancel altogether,” Erin Vincent, district spokeswoman said to The Bellingham Herald.
Those days will be made up on June 15 and June 16, and possibly on June 17.
While schools can apply for a limited number of waiver days, Vincent said, the required 1,027 instructional hours can’t be changed. So the school district will wait before applying for a waiver.
“In 2019, we saw winter weather as late as March so we will wait to see what other weather comes our way before we announce a final revision to our school calendar,” Vincent said.
Lynden
The Lynden School District closed schools for four days.
Three of those closures will be made up on June 11, June 12 and June 15, according to Superintendent Jim Frey.
The district hasn’t decided how to make up the fourth day, Frey said, adding that won’t be done “until we get a bit further through the winter in case we have more weather-related incidents that would cause us to miss more school. “
Meridian
Meridian schools were closed for three days last week, according to Superintendent James Everett.
The district has two days — March 16 and April 27 — built into the calendar for makeup, but Everett said a decision awaits a Feb. 12 school board meeting.
“We are going to wait a bit to determine exactly what our snow makeup plan will be,” he said.
Mount Baker
Students were out of school for four days, starting Jan. 14.
One day will be made up on May 1, a designated snow makeup day, according to Superintendent Mary Sewright.
Other possible makeup days are June 12, June 15 and June 16, according to Sewright.
Those dates may change if the school district gets a waiver, Sewright said, or “if we get more snow.”
Nooksack Valley
School was closed for five days.
The school district has two dates already built into its calendar — March 5 and March 6 — to make up for days missed because of snow, so students will go to school on those days, according to Johnson, the district’s superintendent.
The school district likely will apply for two to three waiver days “in order to not go into a new week of school in June,” Johnson said.
