LA CROSSE, Wis., (February 22, 2019) – The School District of La Crosse is ready to share with families plans to make-up lost instructional minutes for the 2018-19 school year due to closures from inclement weather over the last couple of months.
The district built 2 days into this year’s school calendar for possible inclement weather. The severe winter weather required us to close for 5 days so far. That leaves 3 days of lost instructional minutes the district needs to create to follow state requirements. Please keep in mind any additional inclement weather days that require us to close school this winter will result in additional changes.
All Schools – The early release days scheduled for March 15 and May 10 will now be scheduled as full school days. Afternoon preschool will be available on March 15 and May 10 because of the new full-day schedule. The last day of school, June 5, will now be a two-hour early dismissal instead of the normal three-hour early dismissal.
Elementary and middle schools – Starting on Thursday, March 7, the district’s elementary and middle school dismissal times will be extended. Elementary schools will end their school days 8 minutes later at each building. Middle schools will end their school days 10 minutes later. Both extensions will last through the end of this school year. These changes will allow elementary and middle schools to meet the state requirements for total minutes of instruction.
High schools – The district’s high schools already have a longer scheduled school day. With the 5 closure days due to inclement weather, the high schools are still close to having the required instructional minutes with the help of adding back the March 15 and May 10 early release days. The high schools will need to cancel two extended learning days between March 7 and the end of the school year to meet the state requirements but will not need to extend their afternoon dismissal times. Each of the high schools will determine which two extended learning days to cancel and follow-up with their families.
Parents and guardians of students who ride the bus at all grade levels should expect their students to arrive home about 10 minutes later than normal beginning March 7.
Making a decision about weather-related school closures is always difficult, but please know the safety of our students and staff is our number one priority.