MPS students will have to make up time they missed for snow days, extreme cold, in January

Milwaukee Public Schools students and staff will have to make up some of the class time they lost in January because of extreme winter weather.

Like other area districts, MPS closed schools Jan. 9 and Jan. 12 because of snow, and closed again Jan. 16 because of extreme cold.

For schools on MPS' traditional-start calendar, students will need to attend classes June 7, which was previously a records day for staff. Staff will have a records day June 13, instead of professional development.

For schools on MPS' early-start calendar, there are the following changes:

• Students at Douglas, King Middle, Lincoln Center, Morse, Roosevelt, and Wedgewood schools must attend school Feb. 16. At all other early-start schools, this will be a staff-only day.

• Students at Vincent High School must attend school March 12, which is ACT Day. At all other high schools, juniors attend school, but students in grades nine, 10, and 12 do not attend.

• All high school students must attend school April 10.

See the list of changes on the MPS website, where you can also view the updated calendars.

MPS already made up time for days canceled in August due to extreme heat.

Are other school districts making up their snow days?

All Wisconsin school districts are required under state law to provide a minimum number of hours of instruction for each grade level.

If the cancellations knocked a district's calendar below that minimum, and students did not have remote classes on those days, the district will have to make up the time.

Many districts already built extra time into their school calendars in anticipation of winter closures. For example, the Waukesha School District built in enough extra time to cover four snow days, so it doesn't need to add a makeup day.

Did students have to take virtual classes on snow days?

After the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools to develop virtual classrooms, some school districts kept using those tools on snow days to keep students learning. Others have gone back to the old ways of handling snow days.

In Waukesha, students and staff are encouraged to "take a deep breath on these days and pause learning as we have traditionally."

"We hope you will get outside, play and relax," Superintendent James Sebert said in a letter to parents.

Contact Rory Linnane at rory.linnane@jrn.com. Follow her on X (Twitter) at @RoryLinnane. 

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: MPS adds make-up days for winter cancellations