With the recent barrage of storms canceling school across Maine, district officials are weighing their options on how to make up so many snow days.
Most schools build in about five snow days into the school calendar. Unfortunately, many districts, including Portland and South Portland, have already hit that limit.
South Portland Superintendent Ken Kunin says the upcoming storms could wind up extending the school year into the last week of June.
“We really don’t wanna go there if we don’t have to. But we’ll take it if it comes,” he says.
Districts do have some new options to make up for lost days. A 2015 law allows schools to add an hour to the school day for five days straight to count as a single extra day.
Scott Porter, the superintendent of AOS 96 in Machias, says he’s in favor of a new bill that would let districts hold class on teacher training days, then push that professional development until the end of the regular school day.
“Instead of being locked into having a separate day to do that,” he says.
But despite the new options, some district officials say they plan to simply keep their school doors open until late into June.
