Ky. school district cancels classes after Super Bowl. ‘No need to ... leave the parties’
There will be no classes for Paris City Schools on Feb. 12, the day after the Super Bowl, Superintendent Stephen McCauley said.
“Whether you are dying to see Taylor (Swift), (Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick) Mahomes, Usher or just the commercials, this year you can,” McCauley says in a video on the district’s social media channels.
“No need to rush the kids to bed at halftime or leave the parties ... early,” he said.
The game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. Sunday and will likely end around 10 p.m.
A district calendar committee made the decision to be innovative, to accommodate and adapt to “the schedules of our families,” McCauley told the Herald-Leader.
“This no school day has been scheduled and on our calendar for approximately one year,” he said. “So far locally it’s been very well received.”
Paris City students will attend school instead on President’s Day, Feb. 19, when many school districts traditionally close.
McCauley said he knew of no other Kentucky school districts that have made similar decisions for the day after the Super Bowl.
However, if the Kansas City Chiefs win the Super Bowl on Sunday, the Kansas City, Mo., district and others have announced plans to cancel classes for a victory celebration Wednesday, Education Week reported.
“Canceling school ‘once for a very rare occasion of civic celebration, I don’t think that’s a big deal,’” Robert Balfanz, the director of the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University, a research center that studies school attendance and student engagement recently told Education Week about the Kansas City school cancellations. “I don’t think we can scold our way to better attendance.”
Solar eclipse
Canceling school during another rare event will happen later this year in Lexington.
Fayette County Public Schools decided to cancel classes on April 8 during the total solar eclipse that will sweep across 13 states in the afternoon. The district made up the day in August 2023.
Fayette County Public Schools also canceled classes during a solar eclipse in 2017.
The 2024 event is expected to bring at least 150,000 visitors to several Western Kentucky counties, with more than 1 million travelers expected to drive through Kentucky to viewing spots in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, a news release from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet said
.”The solar eclipse will be a memorable and fun event for many Kentucky families,” Gov. Andy Beshear said in that release. “I encourage Kentuckians who intend to watch it to plan early to make this event safe for all. “
A total solar eclipse is when the moon passes between the sun and Earth, blocking the sun’s light, the Transportation Cabinet news release said, citing NASA. That happens when the Earth, moon and sun are aligned and only the corona of the sun is visible, like a halo. The event can be observed only in specific regions, the news release said.
The total solar eclipse will affect eight Kentucky counties and portions of four others. The totality phase will enter Kentucky around 2 p.m., CDT, in parts of Fulton and Hickman counties before entering Ballard, McCracken, Livingston, Crittenden, Union and Henderson counties along the Ohio River. It also clips small portions of Carlisle, Graves, Webster and Daviess counties.
