SSD200 Update

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Please allow me to take this opportunity to explain more about attendance requirements as they pertain to snow/inclement weather days. Several years ago, the State of Missouri changed the required amount of time for schools to be in session from days to hours. This change is how the door became open for districts to choose a four-day week. These districts extended the time students were in school each day long enough to comply with the overall requirement of 1,044 hours during the school year.

Another unintentional consequence of this change affected district decisions to cancel school for inclement weather. Most if not all school districts, including Sedalia, have in excess of the 1,044 hours built into their calendars. For example, this year, Sedalia’s school calendar had 1,088.25 hours, which equates to an extra 6.5 days of school. Thus, the district could close school due to weather for 6.5 days and still meet the requirement of 1,044 total hours.

Additionally, during the pandemic, the state approved for districts to apply for Alternative Methods of Instruction (AMI) days. AMI for up to a total of 36 hours is allowable for emergency situations, which includes inclement weather. This results in an additional 5 days that the district can utilize for inclement weather. In this year’s school calendar, there are a total of 11.5 days that could be used for inclement weather without making up any days.

The state also requires that every school district still have 36 hours of make-up hours in the school calendar, which is a rule that has been in place for quite some time. Under the new rules, districts generally just stack these make-up days on the end of the school calendar.

So why haven’t we utilized any AMI days this year? Timing is everything. First, our first inclement weather days this year were on the heels of Christmas break. With no contact with the teacher since Dec. 20, the effectiveness, if any, of such lessons would have been minimal. An even larger reason is that our secondary students had not even met to start their second semester courses yet, and there had been zero contact between teachers and students due to the break. Now that we have begun the second semester, AMI is a much more viable option.

Still, timing is everything. This is only the middle of January with a potentially long winter ahead. Spring also carries its share of risk with possible ice storms and or severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. Those who recall the May 2011 tornado remember that our district had to simply cancel classes for the remainder of that school year. We may need some of those AMI days in the future. AMI is better suited when we know we are most likely going to miss school (impending weather front) and not be attached to the end of a long break.

As I mentioned, this could prove to be a long winter. I hope not, but we have to prepare and be ready. We also have to realize that sometimes we must push forward with having school in the safest way possible, snow or not. While we in Missouri aren’t as prepared as our northern neighbors who have no choice but to carry on despite the snow, we are resilient and strong all the same! I say that now while still worrying whether it will be too cold for school come Tuesday morning! Stay tuned …

P.S. Below is some language from state regulations for reference.

Dr. Todd Fraley

Superintendent, Sedalia School District 200

Missouri statute directs that each school board shall prepare annually a calendar for the school term per Section 171.031.1, RSMo. The school term shall consist of one thousand forty-four hours of actual pupil attendance, and "school day" shall mean any day in which, for any amount of time, pupils are under the guidance and direction of teachers in the teaching process. For kindergarten and prekindergarten grade levels, the board shall provide a minimum of five hundred twenty-two hours of actual pupil attendance in a term. In short:

There is an hour requirement of 1,044 hours or 522 hours in session for half-day kindergarten or prekindergarten programs claimed for state aid.

There is also a weather make-up hour requirement.

• 36 planned make-up hours are required. 18 planned make-up hours are required for half day programs.

• The LEA school cannot go below 1,044 hours in session, or 522 hours in session for half-day kindergarten or prekindergarten programs claimed for state aid, unless forgiven by weather make-up requirements. Weather make-up requirements are:

The first 36 weather hours are made up and then half the amount thereafter up to 48 hours, for a maximum of 60 total make-up hours.

Districts must comply with Section 163.021.1, RSMo, which requires compliance with the minimum term to be eligible for state aid. Additionally, Section 171.033.3, RSMo, states “in school year 2019-20 and subsequent years, a school district may be exempt from the requirement to make up school lost or cancelled due to inclement weather in the school district when the school district has made up the thirty-six hours required under subsection 2 of this section and half the number of additional lost or cancelled hours up to forty-eight, resulting in no more than sixty total make-up hours required by this section”.

“Inclement weather”, for purposes of this section, shall be defined as ice, snow, extreme cold, excessive heat, flooding, or a tornado.

This newsletter will be sent each quarter, with some special extra editions, to families and staff members of Sedalia School District 200. Comments or questions: communications@sedalia200.org