TAYLOR RIDGE, Ill. — The Quad Cities region is currently experiencing the second snowiest January on record. Between the snowfall, ice and freezing rain, some schools are having a tough time bringing students back after the holiday break.
"December would be my guess (for) the last time that we had a full week of school," Rockridge School District Superintendent Marcus Bush said. "The weather's been a little crazy this year. And so it's been tricky getting back into the swing of things."
The Rockridge district has had seven snow days this January, on top of three days they had to take off at the beginning of the school year due to extreme heat. Bush said the more rural roads make it difficult for buses to travel during winter weather.
"The highways are one thing but when you get off those highways, it's another thing," he said. "It's little things that sometimes we don't think about. When that snow fell, that eight, ten inches, 12 inches of snow fell, the gravel roads weren't frozen yet. Well, the road commissioners doing those jobs can't drop the snow blade all the way to the gravel, otherwise, you're just plowing the gravel."
The district does not have an e-learning plan in place, unlike the Rock Island-Milan School District.
Patrick Versluis, the principal at Denkmann Elementary School, said his students have had three e-learning days this year and it works well for them.
"The state allowed school districts to apply to have an e-learning plan... if it were to have inclement weather or hot weather. We could do an e-learning day in place of the old-fashioned snow day," Versluis said. "They can still get that lesson that continues on that learning progression for those learning targets. I think that's really key for us to keep that progress of learning happening over time."
An e-learning policy is now a possibility Rockridge is discussing.
"We actually just left an administrative meeting talking about getting something in place for next year and really just utilizing it for those years like this year, where we've had 10 days that we've called off so far," Bush said.
Another focus right now is what Rockridge students and staff will have to make up this year. There are five emergency days built into the calendar.
"We are currently making up five days right now, so after five days, we don't have to make those up. That's kind of a local decision at that point," Bush said. "We're still working with the union to try and figure out what's best for our students and our families. Because we have a spring break set up, but we also know that parents utilize that time and plan for that time, so to pull it now would be kind of tricky for those parents as well."
For now, Bush is hoping for no more winter weather and said students are happy to be back in the classroom, although he's not sure they'll feel that way come April when they're ready for a break.
"Obviously, class time is a big deal because nothing takes the place of instruction from our teachers," Bush said. "It is a little worrisome, but I have full faith in our fantastic faculty and staff that are going to get our kids where they need to be, by the time they need to be there."