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Snow Days Add Up In Portland

How Will Schools Make Up Lost Time?

POSTED: 4:11 pm PST December 18, 2008
UPDATED: 5:14 pm PST December 18, 2008

Inclement weather Thursday morning resulted in the fourth snow day of the week for some Portland-area schools, but school leaders may eventually have to determine how they will make up the lost time.

At East-West Sylvan Middle School, students enjoyed yet another day off Thursday -- and so did every Portland public school on the west side of the Willamette River.

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However, the consequences of the school closures may not be fun for students in the spring and summer.

Portland school officials said the district has two flexible days already in place for teacher planning and snow days. Beyond those days, they'll have to make up time, but it it may not be in the form of extra days.

State school requirements are based on the number of classroom hours. Officials said schools could choose to add those hours on periodically throughout the spring.

On Thursday, conditions were better on the east side of Portland, where schools were open. With this week's snow days favoring the Westside schools, the school year may end on different days for Portland schools.

Some parents wondered if school leaders were making the correct decisions with the closures, while others supported their choice to play it safe.

"I think it's a good call," said Andrew Mesch, whose son is in the second grade. "It's a tough call. I'd rather them be conservative and have everyone safe."

"It seems like it's overkill, but I guess they need to be cautious," said Tom Pullano.

Portland school officials said it's too early to consider adding days onto the end of the year. If another weather event hits in January or February, they'll likely have big decisions to make.

Students Continue Food Drive Despite Weather

At Jesuit High School, students continued with their annual charity event despite classes being canceled Thursday.

Dozens of students turned out for the school's 40th annual food drive and the student center became a food sorting assembly line.

After months of collecting food from first period classes and school events, the students were able to gather enough food boxes for 300 needy families in the Portland area.

The weather didn't make it easy, but the students said skipping the food drive was never an option.

"A lot of the families we're delivering food to live on the eastside or way out in Hillsboro. So it means driving later when the roads are icy. We're going to have to persevere to get this food to those families," said Jesuit student Natalie Simmons.

Teachers, parents and students began to deliver the food boxes at noon Thursday.

Many of the teenagers are new drivers and drove in winter-like conditions for the first time.

Snow Days Add Up In Portland

Students Continue Food Drive Despite Weather

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