BEAVERCREEK — Many of the Miami Valley’s school districts have canceled classes every day so far this week because of snow and with bitter cold expected on Thursday, we asked districts about how they make the decision to close or delay.
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As shown on News Center 7 at 5:00, Beavercreek Superintendent Paul Otten said he’s checking the conditions every morning and is not only in contact with other Greene County superintendents but also some in Montgomery County as well.
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“At the end of the day, at 5:30, we have to make a decision,” Otten said. “And if the decision is. ‘This is what’s going to be the safest for our kids and our staff,’ we’re going to do it every time.”
Beavercreek students had a snow day on Tuesday and a two-hour delay on Wednesday. The time off adds us fast and the district only has so much to give.
“You cannot drop below the state minimum,” Otten explained. “So if you drop below the state minimum, you have to make those up.”
Ohio requires about 1,000 of classroom time throughout the course of the school year. Beavercreek builds in nearly 100 hours on top of that state mandate.
“We do not want to give up those 100 hours, so what we want to do is, we’ll go seven days and then make a decision,” he said.
This means either the days off now, will be added to the end of the school year or students may learn from home.
“We see a big storm coming in and it’s got ice and we know that’s going to put us out,” he said. “Our teachers can prepare our kids for remote learning.”
Otten said he’s keeping an eye on Friday’s forecast. If the snow rolls through, students may have a shortened school day.
“We have, at times, sent kids home early on a day because snow has rolled in, start hitting hard at 9:00,” he said.
Otten said he’s also looking at the wind chill over the next few days. He told News Center 7′s Mason Fletcher that it could be a reason to delay, but the only way they would cancel school is if enough buses don’t start.
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