NAMPA, Idaho — The Nampa School District begins its calendar construction by looking at arguably the biggest day of a student's career —graduation.
"We usually plan a year ahead with the Ford Idaho Center. We pick that date so we have a secure end date," said Matt Sizemore, community and media relations specialist for the Nampa School District.
State law requires all school districts to be in class for a certain number of hours each year, ranging from just over 800 hours a year for primary students to just under 1,000 hours for high schoolers.
"We add more school hours to account for any snow days or bad weather days that we might have that might lead to the cancellation of school. That way, if there is a cancellation that has to happen, we are well prepared," Sizemore said.
Nampa's school schedule is a yearly undertaking set forth by a committee of teachers and administrators, as well as parent input received from surveys.
The State Department of Education said snow days are even included in the law, allowing for 11 hours of emergency reduction for weather or facility failures.
For Nampa, they decided to exceed the required classroom hours to allow for extra snow days and more student contact days, scheduling more than 1,000 hours for every grade level.
"At the Nampa School District specifically, we go above those minimums," Sizemore said.
As previously reported, the Nampa School District moved to a four-day school week this year, which proved advantageous last week. While surrounding Canyon County school districts called a snow day Friday, Nampa wasn't impacted since school was not in session.
"We haven't had to cancel school or call a snow day at all when there are no students already in class. So it's kind of worked in our favor in that way," Sizemore said.
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