Columbia Public Schools will not be in session Wednesday. It will be the district’s third consecutive day with a snow cancelation. In an email, Jefferson City Public Schools also announced that classes were canceled.
Columbia Public Schools spokesperson Michelle Baumstark said the district didn’t have any employees working Tuesday because they didn’t think conditions would be safe for them to come to work. She said the “emergency day,” coupled with the still-falling snow and the amount still expected to come, would not have allowed crews enough time to clear parking lots and sidewalks and to finish the other work necessary for school to be held.
“Once the snowfall stops, then we can start assessing what our next steps will be,” Baumstark said.
Baumstark said the district is required to build a minimum of six snow days into its calendar. Those days are usually added on to the end of the year. Wednesday’s cancelation will be the district’s fifth cancelation this year, so classes will continue until June.
“It’s not a free day, they still have to go to school, they just have to make it up at the end of the year,” Baumstark said.
A calendar with an explanation of the snow-day makeup policy is available on the district’s website. To see a complete list of school and weather closings in the region, check out KOMU's weather cancellations list.
Tolton Regional Catholic High School also canceled classes Wednesday, according to a haiku posted on the school’s Facebook page.
“Flakes gently falling.
Hazardous roads. Many wrecks.
SNOW DAY tomorrow!”