Schools in Mentor Talk About Making Up Calamity Days

The schools in Mentor have had to call off days for , fire and this year.

At this point, only a plague of locust would be surprising.

and have each used six calamity days, except for which had to cancel an additional three days because of a fire.

The schools only get three calamity days and that mean, if nothing changes, they will have to schedule three extra days of school.

However, that is a pretty big if.

State House Bill 1 cut districts' calamity days from five to three this school year, but State Sen. Tim Grendell has proposed legislation that would return the number of calamity days from three to five.

The proposed bill was approved by the Senate and is being considered by the state House of Representatives.

In the meantime, schools have already scheduled some makeup days. Lake Catholic will have school on March 17 and 18. Garfield Elementary will have class on April 21.

Mentor Schools spokeswoman Kristen Kirby said the district is waiting to see what happens with the proposed legislation before it schedules any makeup days for the entire district.

The schools stand to save money if they can avoid making up calamity days.

They would have to pay to heat and light the building on makeup days. Also, when it snows or floods, there is also a cost attached to the personnel who clean the mess.

While Lake Catholic President Sal Miroglotta did not have an exact price for makeup days, he said a bad snowstorm and makeup day could cost the district "several thousands" of dollars.

Similarly, that each makeup day for the entire district costs about $8,500.

Some final tidbits on the schools' two most recent calamity days:

• Lake Catholic spokeswoman Kathy Dowd said the school had some flooding in the science wing, but it was "nothing that couldn't be handled with a mop and squeegee."
• Kindergarten registration dates were rescheduled for Garfield and to March 4 and 7, respectively.
• Kirby said Mentor Schools could not push back school a few hours Monday, because each bus driver runs four routes; and, by the time, the last route was finished, school would almost be over.