Instructional hours update planned for next school board meeting
Like the previous year, the Lawrence school district’s first two snow days of the academic year have come after an early January storm hit town. But a weekend blizzard dumped almost a foot of snow this time.
The district announced Monday afternoon that schools will be closed again Tuesday.
Several school cancellations, or reductions in instructional hours, could add up and require the district to make up time.
As blizzard cleanup continues, so do extremely cold temperatures and wind chills, which present concerns for students and staff traveling to school.
The forecast high for Tuesday moves up to 20°, a few degrees up from Monday’s, but wind chills could be below 0°, according to the National Weather Service in Topeka’s forecast as of Monday evening. Wednesday could see a high of 17° following single-digit temperatures overnight, but wind chills will remain between -7° and 3°, according to NWS.
District spokesperson Julie Boyle said Monday that plans for the school board meeting on Monday, Jan. 13 include an update on state requirements and the district’s current status on inclement weather days.
Schools must meet a certain number of instructional hours per year to meet state minimums and keep its accreditation. The Kansas State Department of Education forgives local districts the same number of inclement weather hours or days they build into their calendars and use.
The district has one inclement weather makeup day on its board-approved calendar for 2024-25: Monday, April 21.
The district canceled four days back in January 2024 because of inclement weather. The district announced in March it would remove Wednesday early dismissals at the middle and high schools until the end of the 2023-24 year to make up the missed time. Early childhood and elementary school schedules had still met the state-required minimum instruction hours. Some high schoolers walked out in protest following the announcement.
Because the district’s decision was a violation of its contract with the teachers union, union representatives came to the bargaining table the next day to create a new plan, which school board members then discussed. Students at all middle schools and Free State High School ended up having time added to their days, and all middle and high schools were in session the full five days of their final week of the year, as well.
School board members last year had voiced concerns about how district administrators handled the issue and communicated the plan to families. An earlier update to the board could help avoid major last-minute schedule changes.
Keeping warm inside
Frigid temperatures forecast to continue this week could present concerns for cold classrooms when students do return to school.
Lawrence temperatures dropped as students returned from fall break in November. Staff and families at some schools had reported classrooms were cold, and the Facilities and Operations team needed to respond to heating issues at multiple buildings.
Boyle said Monday afternoon that F&O staff members work throughout the winter on weather preparedness.
“Given the forecast for bitter cold temperatures this week, we have planned and taken additional preparatory steps to maintain warmer internal temperatures, to regularly walk classrooms and schools, and to monitor the progress of temperatures in buildings closely,” Boyle said via email.
Boyle said F&O staff members presently monitor thermostat settings inside buildings to maintain warmer temperatures. They’re also doing building and classroom walk-throughs on cold weekday and weekend nights, on top of regular times, to address “cold spots” or new issues.
Crews pretreated school campuses ahead of the storm and will begin the clearing process once it’s safe, Boyle said. If icing impacts powerlines to the building, F&O staff contact Evergy to work on cleanup, timing and other details. Staff are also prepared to respond to potential power outages.
“We want to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of our facilities and operations team members who are on duty throughout these significant weather events,” Boyle said via email.
“We value the work of our community partners, including our transportation provider, who work to ensure travel to school is safe. We also appreciate the work staff complete year-round to maintain safe learning and working environments for all students and staff across our 21 schools and educational programs, and support centers.”
A representative of First Student, the transportation company the district contracts with, did not respond prior to publication to emailed questions regarding bus maintenance and safety.
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Note: This post has been corrected from a previous version.
Maya Hodison (she/her), equity reporter, can be reached at mhodison@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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Severe weather resources
Get warm in Lawrence:
• See this page for locations to get warm during the day and overnight, where to get help for pets and more.
National Weather Service local office (Topeka):
• Find the latest weather forecast info and severe weather advisories for the Lawrence area at this link.
• In the event of rapidly changing severe weather, such as tornadoes, the NWS posts frequent updates on Twitter, @NWSTopeka. You do not need a Twitter account to see tweets from NWS.
• NWS is also on Facebook, facebook.com/NWSTopeka.
• Call 785-234-2592 to hear the forecast.
City of Lawrence snow info:
• The city has snow information and a map at lawrenceks.org/snow that shows information about road conditions and where snowplows have been. The city typically begins snow and ice control for residential roadways when 2 or more inches of snowfall or icing occurs.
Douglas County Emergency Management:
• Follow @DgCoEM on Twitter or Douglas County, KS- Emergency Management on Facebook, facebook.com/dgcoem.
• Sign up to receive emergency alerts at dgcoks.org/emalerts.
• Find lots of tips on severe weather and other emergency preparedness on DgCoEM’s website at douglascountyks.org/emergency-management.
• Report storm damage (for non-emergencies only, and after storm danger has passed) by calling the nonemergency dispatch line at 785-843-0250 or 785-832-7509.
Evergy outages:
• Check the status of power outages on the Evergy outage map, outagemap.evergy.com.
• Report a power outage at evergy.com/report-outage, or call 800-544-4857.
• For down powerlines, call Evergy’s emergency line, 800-383-1183, if above-ground lines are arcing or making contact with trees or vegetation. Call 911 immediately if overhead power lines are on the ground or a fire starts.
Air quality:
• Check the current air quality index in Lawrence and elsewhere through AirNow, airnow.gov.
