Avoyelles Parish students will have to make up two snow days

Two “snow days” granted earlier this month will have to be made up, Avoyelles School District Superintendent Blaine Dauzat said.

Record low temperatures, ice and even some snow caused schools to be closed Jan. 16-18 -- in effect extending the Jan. 15 Martin Luther King Day holiday by three days. Dauzat said two of those days will have to be made up to ensure students have enough instructional days to comply with state requirements.

Students will have to go to school on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 14, and March 23. Teachers were already scheduled to attend school for staff development training on those days. Now they will be teaching classes instead of sitting in one.

Students will still have three days off for Mardi Gras -- Feb. 9, 12 and 13. Students begin their week-long Easter break on Good Friday, March 30.

Dauzat said the school system has had to cancel school six days this school year, which is the maximum the instructional calendar will allow. Recovering these two days will give the district leeway to cancel two more days for emergencies between now and the end of school and avoid the prospect of having to extend the school year to make up instructional time.

Weather forecasters are projecting an Arctic cold front coming through this area in early February, which carries the possibility of low temperatures and wintry precipitation.