Snow days add up for Mid-Michigan schools as more winter weather looms

LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - Schools have already taken more than a few snow days this year, both for severe weather and the mental well-being of their students.

There’s more snow on its way to Mid-Michigan, leaving superintendents wondering whether they’ll have to dip into their snow day bank once again. They’re only allotted six per school year, but they go quickly when storms roll through back-to-back - or when there’s a threat of violence to the community.

At Holt Public Schools, Superintendent Dr. David Hornak said they’ve already shut down for last month’s ice storm, a recent bout of power outages and the near half-foot of snow that buried the Lansing area last week. But if they need to close the doors again tomorrow, Hornak said they likely won’t be tight on snow days.

“We’re hanging in, in Holt public. We still have a couple more to spare,” he said. “With that, we will be up at 3:50 in the morning, checking the roads, and we’ll be making a call by 5:30 a.m.”

Holt also cancelled classes the day after a mass shooter killed three students on Michigan State University’s campus. Hornak said he felt it was important that students, parents and staff have a chance to process the tragedy, and prepare for the future.

“We all have connections with Michigan State. Frankly, it’s only eight miles from here,” he said. “We took a day off. Our administrative team spent 12 hours preparing a plan to help our teachers be prepared to welcome out students back.”

Although Waverly Community Schools planned to take the day off tomorrow for parent-teacher conferences, Superintendent Kelly Blake said they’ll be ready for any snowy surprises.

“We just had our first two days recently,” she said. “I thought we might get through the season without having a snow day.”

An updating list of school closings can be found here.

Read next:

Subscribe to our News 10 newsletter and receive the latest local news and weather straight to your email every morning.

Copyright 2023 WILX. All rights reserved.