How will schools make up all the days they were closed?



WAUKESHA (WITI) -- Kids love it when school is cancelled, but making up those missed days -- not so much! School districts across the state of Wisconsin are now facing the challenge of squeezing in all the makeup days into the calendar.

There is no question this has been an extreme winter. The Superintendent of the School District of Waukesha says road conditions and bitterly cold temperatures left no question school had to be cancelled -- and he is now working to reschedule days, without impacting graduation.

Just 30 days into the New Year, students in Waukesha have already missed four days of classes.

"Everyone's for it. I'm pretty sure all the students are. I am," senior Josh Schneph said.

Now, the cold reality is sinking in -- that the district must reschedule at least some of the missed days.

Superintendent Todd Gray says it's been years since the district cancelled this many school days.

"We`re gonna have to be very, very careful about how we call days in the future," Gray said.

The School District of Waukesha had one day built into its year for inclement weather -- but needs to make up three. It has already rescheduled for a Thursday and Friday in March, and a Friday in May.

"Adding days on at the end of the year could potentially delay our high school graduation and I absolutely do not want to do that," Gray said.

Other districts are facing similar decisions.

Milwaukee Public Schools has closed three days, and so far, has scheduled one makeup day.

The Sheboygan Area School District has closed three days and has scheduled two makeup days.

The Kenosha Unified School District has closed five days and is still evaluating options.

Gray says what concerns him is there's still a lot of winter left, and cold days ahead.

"We`ll do everything we can. We`ll look at adding minutes. The DPI has said too if you need to use some Saturdays you can do that -- but those aren`t those aren`t in the plan right now," Gray said.

In Waukesha, two makeup days are scheduled on what used to be professional development days -- and one is scheduled on a day there was originally no school.

Other districts like Mequon-Thiensville are extending early release days to make up their hours.