Oklahoma Schools Facing Tough Decisions On Snow Days

School districts have their fingers crossed, hoping for no more snow days. Any more winter weather could leave schools with very few options.

Many Tulsa area schools are out of snow days. On Monday, the Broken Arrow school board got up to speed with a plan on how to make up those days, devised before the school year started.

After the winter storm two years ago, Broken Arrow Public Schools decided to build in extra days as a proactive measure.

Broken Arrow Superintendent, Dr. Jarod Mendenhall said, "On our calendar what we've done this year is we actually built in the four days, but also said if we took more than that what we would do and already had that approved."

Broken Arrow students will now be in school on the day after President's Day, which was originally a teacher work day.

Parent, Sarah Driskell, said, "If we need to make up those days, so we don't have to miss a lot of summer, I mean, it's okay."

Other schools in the area are facing the same hard decisions.

If Tulsa Public Schools calls off school for another snow day, they'll make up the time on President's Day, then March 14th right before spring break.

The Jenks School Board will meet at the end of the month to alter the calendar if more snow days are taken.

Owasso is out of snow days and has not released plans if more days are needed.

Union Public Schools seems to be one of the few districts with one more snow day left.

Broken Arrow took one possible snow day off the table Monday, voting to cancel class on March 31st, so teachers can go to an education rally at the Capitol.

One frustrated parent, Bill Martin, said this shouldn't have even been on the agenda.

"It also creates an image for the teachers, and the administration, that they're really just focused on dollars ‘cause that's all we hear about. We don't hear about the great ideas they have about how we can leverage other activities," Martin said.

The board ultimately voted to make up the day on March 14th, the Friday before spring break.

The Broken Arrow superintendent does not anticipate using any more snow days, but if one is used, he said the district will look at adding more hours to the day so students will not have to go to school in June.