If you’ve lived in Missouri for any length of time, you know the weather is highly unpredictable to say the least! We can be outside in shorts one day, and scraping ice off our windshields the next. And as you can imagine, this can create certain challenges when considering travel conditions for the nearly 4,200 students who attend our Rolla school district. When you get out for your morning commute in inclement weather the roads might seem “fine”, but imagine those driving conditions if you were navigating county roads on a school bus full of children. The Rolla 31 school district provides transportation for almost 2,500 students every day, many of those who live in remote areas on county roads. There are over 200 miles of county roads in our district. Some are hilly with sharp curves and low water bridges, and all of them have to be considered when our Superintendent makes a call about bringing kids in for school for the day. Trust me, we would much rather have them here than ask them to stay at home, but we ALWAYS do what we think is in the best interest of the students.
You may be asking where we stand at this point in regards to the current calendar and inclement weather make up days. At the time of this blog post, our total of missed days comes to seven. We have six days “built in” to the calendar, which means we will end at the originally scheduled final day of classes on May 21, 2020 at 1 pm. There’s often some confusion about the built in days, and why we talk about making up days if they’re built in. The first two days to be used for inclement weather make up this year were Presidents’ Day and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day respectively. Next we moved on to the four days at the remainder of the year: May 18, 19, 20, and 21. On years where we don’t use those days at the end, the final day of school is backed up to reflect the unused days and school releases earlier.
Are you still with me? The calendar can be a bit complex and has many other parameters beyond inclement weather days, so we understand it can be a confusing topic! What happens next: we will work through any other canceled days as they arise. Since we are so far above the state minimum required hours for the year, we anticipate being able to proceed without any more make up days. Of course we make them up whenever and however we can because we know that more time with kids is better! At this time we are planning to dismiss for the 2019-20 school year on May 21st at 1 pm. If you’re unsure about where we stand at any given time regarding schedules and make up days, you can always access the most current version of our calendar on our website at rolla31.org under the 2019-20 Calendar button. Click the Contact Us button if you have any questions.
As always, we appreciate your support and understand the magnitude of responsibility we take on being entrusted with your children. We constantly strive to do better for them, for you, and for our community. Thanks for making every day a great day to be a Bulldog!
Gina Zervos is the Director of Communications and Volunteer Services for the Rolla Public School District. With a background in Communications, Gina has been teaching at the collegiate level for over 10 years and joined the district in 2018 in an effort to broaden the scope of the public relations and communications reach. She believes the school district is the foundation on which an outstanding community is built. A Rolla native, Gina is passionate about serving the school district and the community, and has dedicated time and effort to many local organizations. Gina resides in Rolla with her husband, Adam, and their two children.
