Augusta Schools Announce Plan to Deal With Excessive Snow Days

Can we really call them 'snow' days?

Yes, schools in Central Maine have been closed a lot this winter, but the cause of the closures has rarely been snow.  Instead, our schools have been closed by power outages, flooding, ice, and high winds.  Okay, maybe one or two of the closures was directly related to snow.

Many people may not realize how all of these closures affect when school ends for the year.

This may differ from district to district, but in Augusta, for each day that school is closed due to weather, the last day of school is moved further into summer.

While no one likes the idea of the last day of school changing, it is especially concerning for people who have planned trips within the first few days of summer vacation.

Fortunately, the Augusta School District has a plan to avoid the kids being stuck in school until July.  At the heart of their plan are those early release days that kids love and parents loathe.

Typically, there are a few early release/teacher workshop days each month.  These are usually every other Wednesday.  While the kids leave school early, the teachers are still there for the full day and use the time for workshops.

According to the district's website, to avoid delaying the start of summer vacation, the district has decided to convert a few of these early release days into full days.

The website says, in part:

The School Board recently approved a plan to make-up some of our snow days so that we have fewer student days to make-up in June.  Currently, and unless we experience more storm related cancelations, the plan for the remainder of the year is as follows:  Convert March 6, 2024 and April 24, 2024 Early Release days to full student days, and convert the full teacher workshop day back to a student day on March 15, 2024. 

That makes the last day for most Augusta schools June 12.  The last day for Farrington Elementary will be June 13.

Of course, if there are any additional snow days, the last day of school will change accordingly.