AREA STUDENTS HEAD BACK TO SCHOOL

Hibernating teachers, students and school buses were roused from beneath blankets of snow and ice this week as classes resumed at area schools.

Most public and private schools in Cape Girardeau were to reopen today, but Jackson, Nell Holcomb and Scott City school districts were among those resuming classes Tuesday.

Cape Christian School and Saxony Lutheran High School in Cape Girardeau, and Immaculate Conception and St. Paul Lutheran schools in Jackson also reconvened classes Tuesday following some of the harshest winter weather in recent memory.

"I think everyone's glad to be back," said Scott City schools superintendent Roger Tatum. "It looks to be a long winter, but we're hoping for a good thaw over the next week or two."

Most area schools announced early Christmas vacations after winter storms dumped snow and ice throughout the region in mid-December. School administrators said digging out parking lots and getting school buses running were among their top priorities this week.

"We've still got problems parking buses, but we did get the parking lots cleared enough so parents could drop off the kids and we could have some parking available," said St. Paul Lutheran School Principal Alan Lipke.

Jackson schools superintendent Dr. Ron Anderson said the district's only problems Tuesday were with three school buses that would not start. The buses all used diesel, which tends to gel in freezing conditions unless sufficient amounts of special additives are added to correct the problem.

Make-up days in question

With at least three more months of winter anticipated, officials said they were hesitant to begin planning make-up days for the days missed due to bad weather last month.

"It's an unknown what will happen between now and March," said Anderson, who said Jackson students already have four inclement weather days to make up. "The plan was to tack those on to the end of the school year, but we'll sit down and talk with the staff to see if that's still their preference."

Missouri school districts are required to hold classes a minimum of 174 days and 1,044 hours. However, the state allows districts to meet fewer days based upon the "inclement weather forgiveness" rule and the "inclement weather make-up days" rule. Both rules provide relief in the event of weather conditions that pose a threat to the safety and welfare of students including: excessively hot or cold temperatures; snow and ice storms; and under some conditions, excessively heavy rain.