MUSKEGON COUNTY, Mich. — All Muskegon County public schools had a snow day Wednesday, Feb. 6. due to the significant ice build up around the county.
A thick lawyer of ice covered vehicles, roads, power lines, and school playgrounds. The ice caused a number of power outages in Muskegon County.
"It's been brutal," Reeths-Puffer Schools Superintendent Steve Edwards said about the recent stretch of weather. Reeths-Puffer students have had eight snow days so far this year.
"The roads today were impossible for our buses or our families to utilize," he said.
Most school districts in Muskegon County have closed for weather seven or eight times this school year. The Michigan Department of Education allows districts to close for up to six days during a school year.
The state superintendent can give districts a waiver, increasing the number of snow days to nine. Edwards said he intends on making a waiver request, but not just yet, "We will wait to see what the next couple of weeks bring."
Winter doesn’t officially end until March 20th.
The days missed will need to be made up, if the state superintendent rejects a district’s waiver request.
That could result in districts adding days to the school's calendar. All school districts in Michigan are required to provide 180-days of instruction.
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