By Elise DeYoung

With wind chills in the negatives and excessive amounts of snow, it’s no surprise that this winter, Walled Lake Schools has already used all available snow days provided by the district.

Although snow days are much appreciated by the students, if the school exceeds the maximum amount of six extra days, which we have met, the district will be forced to make up the lost time mandated by the state requirements.

“If a school district exceeds the number of allowable cancelled days, and does not make them up, it is penalized financially,” said Walled Lake Schools’ Superintendent Kenneth Gutman.

The number of school days required is set by the Michigan Department of Education.  Schools are required to provide at least 170 days of instruction this school year.

Gutman stated that the number of forgivable days has not changed in several years and was six during the 2012-2013 school year as well. This year, like schools across the state, Walled Lake Schools were provided with six available snow days.

Because Central has used all available days, the district has the option to add extra days to the year or add hours to each day for the rest of the year should any additional closures occur.

“In my fourteen years of being here, the district has never added days to the end of the year,” said Attendance Secretary Tracy Coram.

Other districts that have already exceeded the maximum amount of extra days, like Lake Orion and Monroe, have announced their preliminary plans for making up time.

No additional school days have been added to the school year as of now. However, if we do encounter school closures at any point during the remainder of the year, the district will most likely have to add extra days/hours to the year to make up for the lost time.