Principal Chris Basinger has confirmed that due to four snow days during the 2023-2024 school year two makeups will take place.
“Anytime we have snow days, the state expects us to meet a certain amount of hours each year,” he said. “Our district was over it so the school board had a discussion. They could’ve had us make up all four days but they decided it was best to make up two days, so in the end that’s a school board decision.”
The makeups will push the original last day of school from Friday, May 24, to Wednesday, May 29, during the week following Memorial Day. The last three days of school will serve as reassessment opportunities; anyone who is proficient does not have to attend.
On Friday, May 24, the schedule will run from periods 1-4, with the afternoon available for reassessment time. Students will have Monday off for Memorial Day. On the subsequent Tuesday, school will run from periods 5-9 in the morning and the afternoon will be free for reassessments. On Wednesday, the schedule will be from periods 1-9, and students only need to attend if requested by the teacher.
According to some Norwalk students, this extension could be harmful.
Freshman Olivia Bussanmas said the extra school days might overlap with her plans to go on vacation at the beginning of summer and/or a concert she will be attending.
“I’m going to the Noah Kahan concert,” she said. “ The concert falls on a date, maybe a week after school gets out and then I have the vacation a week after that so it would definitely interfere with my plans.”
Olivia said she believes that adding school days at the end of the year is not the most effective strategy in making up snow days and she offered a substitution.
“I personally don’t agree [with adding more school] because I feel like we didn’t miss that many days of school from the snow and I feel like we could have other days off in the year that could’ve been removed instead of extending it into summer… [such as] taking off days from teacher work days,” she said.
Freshman Mallory Betts similarly shared a dislike for snow days because they take away time from an already too short summer vacation.
“I like [snow days] to an extent,” she said. “They’re good because I get a break from school but they’re bad because they break into my summer. I feel like our summers are really short and they just fly by. I’d rather have it be a little longer – I’d say like a month – because we only have two months for summer and I’d rather have like three or four.”
Mallory believes that school being lengthened will impact her plans for this summer.
“One hundred percent [it does],” she said. “I have a swim meet the last couple days of school and I need to focus on swim. I feel like we should be more proactive during the school year and not take up those last few days of school. The last couple days of school are mostly just reassessments and makeups.”
Early grad Allison Foust said she has a neutral stance on snow days because she can observe both negatives and positives.
“I like them because they give people a chance to sleep in and have a chance not to have to go to school but when they go back they have to do all the work they missed,” she said.
Freshman Maddie Hellums said that snow days are something that she both enjoys and dislikes.
“I like them, but I don’t like having to make it up at the end of the year – that’s not fun,” she said.
But in the end, Maddie said she would choose more snow days and less summer.
Hellums said that she believes an extension in school should only be implemented when necessary.
“I think it depends on what the teachers think,” she said. “If they think they can finish all of their work on time, like if the majority of them think they can, it shouldn’t be extended.”
