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Schools Run Out of Wiggle Room as Snow Days Used Up

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – The first snow day of this brutal winter left teacher Christopher Crabtree almost as tickled as it did his three children, but delight is giving way to dread as school cancellations pile up – a whopping 16 days off so far in his southern Ohio district, with more snow in the forecast.

Now, even his 12-year-old daughter and 9-year-old twins are missing friends and tired of being stuck at home, he said.

“We really need to get to back to school and some normalcy,” said Crabtree, who teaches American studies at Waverly High School, which lost much of January’s class time to cancellations and two-hour delays.

He wonders how he’ll get students ready for state standardized tests next month.

“I’m feeling the heat because there are things we have to cover,” he said.

Schools in at least 10 states and the District of Columbia have run out of room to move in their academic calendars, forcing them to cut short planned breaks, hold class on holidays, add extra days to the end of the year or otherwise compensate for the lost time.

Students will make up at least three days in Philadelphia and New Haven, Conn., and two in Washington, D.C. Delaware schools have missed a week’s worth of class, and more than half of Maryland’s school districts reached or exceeded their allotted snow days. Boston is extending its school year by nearly a week.

The add-on approach doesn’t sit well with Jonathan Selig, a stay-at-home dad from Halifax, Mass.

“It’s crazy. The kids are going to school at the end of June,” Selig said. “Most of the schools aren’t air-conditioned, so it’s not really a conducive learning environment.”

The schedule shuffle is a pain for parents and educators trying to plan for schoolwork, and child care now and vacation time later.

In Ohio, so many schools have exceeded their five allowable calamity days that state lawmakers are considering measures that would allow more just for this year and excuse high school seniors from certain makeup days. Meanwhile, some schools are using “blizzard bag” take-home or online assignments to make up missed classes.

For school administrators, it’s a question of balancing students’ well-being with educational requirements often tied to funding.

“The safety issue would trump anything else,” said Rita Wolff, spokeswoman for Williamsville Central School District in suburban Buffalo, N.Y., which hasn’t used all seven snow days built into its calendar.

In Indiana and Ohio, cancellations and delays have raised concerns about whether teachers have enough time to prepare students for statewide assessments this spring, which factor into school rankings and other performance measures. Ohio education officials have discussed the possibility of expanding the testing window to give schools a few extra preparation days, state Department of Education spokesman John Charlton said.

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