Du Quoin, like other schools, running out of emergency 'snow' days

With Thursday's snow/sleet/ice day off from school, Du Quoin Unit District 300 has used four of its five emergency days built into the 2021-22 school calendar - with the unpredictable month of March still to get through.

Still, District 300 and other local districts in the same boat have options in case more bad weather forces additional closures, short of extending the school year deeper into May.

Of Du Quoin's four emergency days so far, three are due to weather and one due to the spike in COVID-19 cases during the Omicront surge.

School districts that have run out of emergency days can request a single "act of God" day from the Illinois Board of Education, which would not have to be made up at the end of the year, according to Superintendent Matt Hickam.

Approval by the state board is "not automatic," Hickam said, rather it is a request.

Moreover, a district can request up to five "e-learning" days from the Regional Superintendent's office.

Currently, the date for high school graduation is Friday, May 20. The tentative 8th grade promotion date is Friday, May 27. Hickam said the school board will finalize the dates at its March meeting, by which time most of the worst winter weather will be over.

Hickam said the decision to call an emergency or "snow" day is based on how hazardous conditions are. Iced-over roads, especially in the country, can be hard for buses to navigate, and children waiting for the bus can be left standing outside, he said.

Even if the roads are in pretty good shape - like on Thursday, as Du Quoin street crews went up and down main roads - sometimes the slippery condition of sidewalks and parking lots and some side streets makes canceling school the prudent choice, he said.

Meanwhile, Hickam said he has not called for students and teachers to use e-learning this week. Doing e-learning would enable the district to save an emergency day, but Hickam said he is "reluctant" to do it, because remote learning is not equal to a day in class for most students, particularly younger ones.

"You can't replicate a school day's worth of instructional learning through e-learning," he said. "For younger students, it's more of a lost day. Older students could do something more meaningful, but it puts a lot of pressure on parents and it burdens teachers to have things ready in a timely fashion."

As well, while a majority of district families have internet access at home, not everybody does.

"Just sending home work sheets and packets is not what e-learning is supposed to be anyway," he added.