Metropolitan school districts reach maximum snowfall, AMI days this week

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — In the event of inclement weather, Missouri schools have the option of using remote learning, rather than snow days that cancel classes entirely, but there is a limit to the use of the “alternative method of teaching”, also known as AMI days. .

Some metro districts are already approaching or respecting this limit. AMI days count as teaching days.

“We know this dynamic can be difficult for our families, for staff and communities, but we are making very good decisions to keep our students safe during these days,” said Kelly Wachel, director of communications for the school district. from Park Hill.

Missouri law allows five days per year to be used for this type of virtual learning. This week, schools in the Park Hill School District used all five.

The Park Hill School District has nearly 13,000 students.

“We are in the same situation as all the other neighborhoods in the metropolitan area. We did our AMI days, our alternative teaching methods days and did virtual learning all of those days, so we communicated, we talked to families, we talked to kids, we learned , our teachers were engaged,” added Wachel.

“They can have or use up to 36 hours in a given school year,” said Kari Monsees, deputy commissioner for financial and administrative services for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

“As part of the calendar provisions and the law, schools are required to provide at least 36 hours of make-up time in their calendar.”

But with this week’s weather, many hours are being spent in many Missouri school districts. For some districts it may take five days, for others it may take six days. Districts have the flexibility to set the number of hours in their school day.

But it is possible to add days at the end of the year.

“They do have to wear makeup, but this becomes limited or partial after 36 hours at the end of the year. These 36 hours are separate from the 36 hours of AMI that we are discussing,” DESE’s Monsees said.

“It is quite unusual for such an important week to be impacted for this long. There is a kind of randomness to the weather and weather conditions in our part of the country, but I think our schools are working to meet the needs of students and, worst case scenario, we can do extra days later in the year, if we need it. but it’s good that they can involve them now as much as they can in these distant days.

Make-up snow days are something the Park Hill School District may need to mark on its calendar next. It’s been a week of monitoring the weather, many of them in the metro.

“So any other days that we have this winter that are affected by bad weather, those are going to be snow days for us, where we’re just getting out of school. The trick and case those days, which are extra though, which are old fashioned snow days, those days are added at the end of the school year, which is sometimes tricky for us too,” said Wachel said.

You can find more information on Missouri law here.