Fairfield alters schedule for snow make-up days

The Fairfield Community School District announced that students will attend class on two days scheduled as teacher professional development days.

The two days are April 15 and May 20. Teachers will make up those two professional development days at the end of the school year after students have been dismissed. The last day of school is now scheduled for June 5.

The school board discussed the change at its meeting Monday. Superintendent Laurie Noll said the state requires schools to be in session a certain number of hours as opposed to days. The number of required hours is 1,080.

The district starts the year by planning for 1,134.57 hours, assuming that it will have to cancel school a few times. Thus far, Fairfield has canceled school five times, which Noll said is low compared to other schools in the state, some of which have canceled 10 times.

Noll attributed the lack of closures to the communication between district transportation director Mark Branch and Jefferson County's secondary roads department.

Branch said he talks to Jefferson County Secondary Roads Commissioner Billy Droz twice a day to discuss road conditions. Branch is normally checking roads by 4:30 a.m., and calls Droz half an hour later to learn what he's seen. The two talk again in the evening, because Branch likes to announce the night before whether school is canceled. Branch said he and Noll like to make a decision on cancelations or late starts no later than 5:30 a.m. so they can notify parents before their workday begins.

Droz has a copy of the bus routes and knows when students are picked up and dropped off.

'I believe we are blessed with the guys we've got out here,” said Branch, referring to the employees of the secondary roads department. 'They've done an excellent job of communicating with me.”

Branch said he constantly checks the weather online and gets in touch with the local Iowa Department of Transportation Office.

'A lot goes into our decision [to cancel school],” he said. 'I've got to know it's safe for our students to be on that bus. If you as a parent don't want to drive, put your kids on the bus. It's a proven fact that buses are safer.”

Board members asked Noll if she considered adding minutes to the beginning and end of the school day as a way to make up lost time. Noll said the district is not planning to do that, and she hopes it doesn't have to. She said adding five or 10 minutes to the school day would not really improve the education the students receive, and that she would much prefer to make up lost time through whole days.

Board member Warren Schaefer said adding minutes would entail revising so many schedules and bus routes that it wouldn't be worth it.