CAPE SETS DAYS TO MAKE UP SCHOOL

Planned school holidays in January and February will be canceled for Cape Girardeau students to make up days missed because of bad weather.

Superintendent Dan Tallent said that Jan. 18 and Feb. 15 originally had been set aside to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday and Presidents Day. However, after canceling classes four days in December and January, school officials opted to use both holidays as makeup days.

In recent years, school officials had alternated use of the holidays as makeup days.

"We don't like to go to school on either day, but the prediction is for heavy precipitation and low temperatures, so it's a chance we haven't seen the end of it," said Tallent. "We want to try to get in a full school year without cutting into our Easter break."

Missouri schools are required to hold a minimum 174 school days each year. Most school districts schedule more than the minimum each year. Cape Girardeau schools have 179 scheduled days of attendance this year.

The surplus scheduled days are counted as replacements when school is canceled or dismissed early, said Tallent. Additional days are added to the school calendar when all surplus days have been counted towards reaching the state requirements.