Students and staff in Mexico Public Schools received Presidents Day, Feb. 17, and the rest of the week off following that day because of wintry weather and frigid temperatures that hit the area.
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Students and staff in Mexico Public Schools received Presidents Day, Feb. 17, and the rest of the week off following that day because of wintry weather and frigid temperatures that hit the area.
But no days will have to be made up for those lost days, Mexico Superintendent Troy Lentz said.
“After the February 21 snow day, a review of DESE weather make-up guidelines found that no additional days will be added to the calendar for 2024/2025,” Lentz said in an email response to questions.
The state does require 1,044 hours of instruction per year, but Lentz said there are caveats regarding weather.
“The state statute reads ‘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,’” he said.
He said the district has missed 12 days.
“Each day is calculated at 6.7 hours,” he said. “With the weather forgiveness provision, we have 22.2 hours of inclement weather hours forgiven, which means we must be in session for 1,021.8 hours. If we do not miss any more school, we will be in session 1,058.6 hours.”
He added: “Hopefully, we will not miss any more school days, but if we do, the board would revise the calendar to make sure we meet state requirements. The most likely scenario would be to add days to the end of the year.”
Lentz said the district’s goal is to always be in session, “but unfortunately winter weather often creates unsafe travel conditions. While we are aware of calendar implications, our decision will always be made based on travel conditions. The safety of our students and staff members is the priority.”
The district will be out for spring break March 24-28. School will not be in session for Good Friday, April 18. The last day of classes is May 22.
