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Friday, February 7, 2014
Volume 61, Issue 8
Colder than Antarctica Unprecedented snow days put Semester 1 finals on ice
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photo courtesy of Josh Yue
Students James Zhang, 12, Mitchell Gu, 12, Daniel Chang, 12, Samuel Lee, 11 ski on one of the snow days.
We have not had anything close to this.”
-Dan Hoverman, superintendent
It made for a difficult transition to second semester.” -Michael Kauls, teacher
They were a good chance to catch up on sleep and relax.” -Alex Guzina, 11
by Monica Kemp news editor Last year, the remarkable happened. We had the first snow day in years. This year’s five snow days — one of which was mandated by Governor Mark Dayton himself — came as a shock to many students, postponing first semester finals by nearly a week. According to CBS, on Monday, Jan. 6, temperatures fluctuated from the negative teens to negative 30s and 40s in some parts of the state. MPR has reported that while Minnesota was in -23 degree weather, places known to be colder, such as Alaska, were experiencing temperatures as high as 28 degrees. For students like Madeline Warner, 11, the snow day came as a great surprise. With the impending stress of finals Warner was “relieved when I heard about first snow day.” Likewise, for Alex Guzina, 11, who enjoyed each snow day immensely. “They were a good chance to catch up on sleep and to relax.”
For others, the excitement lessened as the week snow days piled up. “It was nice... but it was [also] annoying because I kind of wished I had done the finals and then had a long weekend,” said Andrew Tang, 11. Others too, became restless. “First day I was ecstatic because I didn’t think that I had enough time for the finals. However, towards the end I just wanted to get it over with,” said David Lee, 11. Teachers too, were inconvenienced by the change the snow brought on. Social Studies teacher, Michael Kauls, said, “It made for a difficult transition to second semester.” Eva Nelson, biology teacher, said, “Luckily for the second semester we aren’t losing any time because we are bringing back some of those days that we had teacher work days before.” Activities, too, had to reschedule their events. Student Council had to rearrange Winter Week calendar to accommodate the new schedule. Shannon Belland, Student Council
advisor said, “It was a really stressful week. We had to cancel and reschedule quite a few events, including a boys’ volleyball tournament and the Talent Show, which is a huge production. The tough part was getting the word out to everyone. It was also harder to get everyone hyped up about Winter Week and these events, but we think it turned out really well. We’re pretty happy about the outcome.” District superintendent Dan Hoverman, described the occurrence at recent school board meetings as “unprecedented.” He went on to say that he had not seen such a phenomenon in 30 years. “It is my responsibility as superintendent to make the call; I heavily weigh how it impacts families,” he said. “With both parents working annoyance frustration it causes I take it very seriously...we have not had anything close to this.” Jon Tynjala, chair of the board, recognized the inconvenience snow days pose on young families when rearranging childcare,
and work schedules. “We understand your concern... [It is an] inconvenience as we are parents, and our kids’ [also had] finals postponed,” he said. When it comes to adding school days back to the calendar Tynjala recognizes it’s a balancing act. “[The state mandates] we can’t start until Labor Day...We don’t want to go too far into June, which goes into consideration when going into [changing the] calendar.” After the school board met, teachers, and district administrators were consulted. Friday April 4, Monday, Feb. 17 (Presidents’ Day) and Friday, May 23 were added to the calendar to make up for the days missed. “I sincerely hope this is the end for these kinds of decision for the remainder of the year,” said Hoverman. “I have never been more pleased to say our kids are back.”