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Missing Snow Day Plans May Cause More Make-up Days

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Missing calamity day plans may cause more make-up days at the end of the year for students in Athens City Schools.

In an email sent to parents, Athens City School District Interim Superintendent Tom Gibbs said, the Ohio Department of Education notified the Athens City School District last week that they had not submitted a snow day make-up plan including the use of “blizzard bags.”

“Blizzard bags” are take-home packets students are assigned when school is canceled to make-up for calamity days.

“The Department official I worked with indicated we could not use ‘blizzard bags’ for any past calamity day events, however, they agreed to accept a plan past the deadline date and allow us to use ‘blizzard bags’ as a make-up option moving forward,” Gibbs said in the email.

According to the email, the Athens City Schools Board of Education held an emergency meeting to approve the use of blizzard bags for this school year on February 19. A letter was signed by the teacher’s union supporting the plan.

“All documents were filed in the hour and the Ohio Department of Education approved our plan that very day,” wrote Gibbs.

The blizzard bags were permitted to be used as make-up for snow days Thursday and Friday last week.

Gibbs said Athens City Schools will need to add one day at the end of the school year. The schools still have one blizzard bag day remaining.

“In a few weeks, after we have made our way through the worst of winter, I will follow up with a communication in regards to specific make-up dates and necessary changes to the school calendar,” Gibbs said in the email.

He said the cold weather makes it difficult to predict if there will be any additional delays and cancelations this year.