The snow is disappearing and students got to start Winter Break a few days early in much of Oregon and Southwest Washington. Now, it's up to school administrators to figure out how to recover some of that lost instructional time.
Many districts from Eugene to southwest Washington canceled four days because of storms in December.
It started Thursday, Dec. 8, with many school officials canceling school before even a flurry had landed. The snow arrived that afternoon and turned roads icy Friday. The pattern repeated six days later, with two snow days on Dec. 15 and 16, following snowy gridlock on the preceding Wednesday.
The demands on Oregon school districts to make up those lost days is arguably greater now than it was in the past, because of a rule change in 2014.
Oregon used to let school districts count up to 14 hours' worth of snow days as “instructional time.” But with one of the shorter school years in the country, state education officials phased out the provision, starting this school year.
Districts are already working to absorb those lost days. Some school districts had scheduled in days in case of inclement weather.
"Our calendar has two days built in (for snow days)," said Beaverton School District spokeswoman Maureen Wheeler.
"After that, additional closures will need to be made up."
Wheeler said the Beaverton school board has not taken up what to do about the other two days. It's a similar story in North Clackamas.
"We have not officially discussed this yet with our board, but we do have three days built into our calendar for inclement weather," said Cindy Quintanilla, interim executive director for government and community relations at the North Clackamas School District.
"It is likely any additional days would need to be made up," she added.
Portland had three potential snow days scheduled into the calendar. School board members voted on Dec. 13 to use at least two of those to make up for lost time from the recent storms. They haven't made a decision yet on how to handle the other two days from the more recent winter weather. Right now, the last day of school for PPS students will be June 13.
Because it's not even January, some school administrators are worried about the likelihood of even more snow in northwest Oregon and southwest Washington this season.
If snow days add up faster than administrators can deal with them, both Oregon and Washington officials can appeal to the state. In Oregon, the state board of education can approve waivers. In Washington, it's up to the state schools superintendent.
Spencer Raymond
/The first snow starts to fall as Portland braces for an unusually strong winter storm, Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016.
Copyright 2016 Oregon Public Broadcasting