Schools will have to make up some of the instruction time they missed when the ice storm kept many Oregon students home this month.
The Springfield School District was hit hard. They lost power and some school buildings were damaged.
School was back in session by midweek last week. The Springfield School Board decided Tuesday to make President’s Day a school day and extend three scheduled half days to full school days.
“We’re excited to be able to have that extra time with students and not extend the school year,” said Brian Richardson, Communications Director for Springfield Public Schools. “But, we’re still inside of January right now as well, so there’s always the possibility that we can get some more inclement weather. We’re going to cross our fingers that we’ll get to keep the calendar as is.”
Richardson says the district estimates the ice storm inflicted about $750,000 in damage across its 20 schools.
He said they’re grateful it wasn’t worse. The district was able to reopen all of its schools a week after the ice started to thaw.
“We’re just really fortunate for not only the crews but the contractors, our own crews, but the contractors as well, who worked so hard,” Richardson said.
Meanwhile, the Oregon Department of Education said it's possible that schools won't have to make up all of the lost instructional time. The Oregonian reports that the agency is working on a plan "to enable any district affected by the recent storm to apply for a waiver of no more than 14 hours."
