Snow days extend school year for some students in the Baltimore region

Owen Ashley, 10, of Baltimore, appears to have mastered the technique for water skiing as he rides his sled down the hill at Forge Park in Baltimore. Schools in the area closed for the first snowstorm of the new year. Amy Davis/Staff

Those snow days this week when schoolchildren were freed from going to school? They’ll likely pay for them in June.

Area school districts handle snow days differently, with options including switching to virtual learning under certain circumstances or extending the school year to meet the state’s minimum requirement of 180 days of instruction.

Here is how area school districts handled their snow days:

Anne Arundel County

By giving students three snow days this week, the district used up all the days built into the calendar for inclement weather.

Should more days be needed, the district can either switch to virtual learning or add days at the end of the academic year. Currently, the last day of school is Friday, June 13.

Baltimore City

The district has three snow days, which, if taken, are made up at the end of the school year. After those three days are used, the district moves to virtual instruction.

Having used two snow days this week, if no other inclement weather requires the district to close, the school year will now end Friday, June 13, instead of Wednesday, June 11.

Baltimore County

The district similarly has three snow days that are made up at the end of the year, and if more are needed, moves to virtual instruction.

This week’s two snow days means for now, the school year will end Friday, June 13, instead of Wednesday, June 11.

Carroll County

Carroll built three inclement weather days into its calendar, which means it has one more snow day to use before the last day of the school year would move beyond the current end date of June 13. If that snow day isn’t used, the end of the school year would be moved up to June 12.

Harford County

The district used two of the six inclement weather days that it has, and will extend the end of the school year by two days. As it stands now, the last day of school will be Monday, June 15.

The school board hasn’t implemented a virtual learning plan for this year, but will look into one for the next academic year, its president has said.

Howard County

The school year will extend by three days to make up for the snow days this week. Originally scheduled for Wednesday, June 11, the last day of school will now be Monday, June 16.

The district has two more inclement weather days at its disposal, which if needed would extend the school year further. If more days beyond that are needed, the district said it will work with the state education officials on a plan.

Baltimore Sun Media reporters Bridget Byrne, Matt Hubbard, Thomas Goodwin Smith and Kiersten Hacker contributed to this article. Have a news tip? Contact Jean Marbella at [e-mail], 410-332-6060, x.com/Jean_Marbella or @jeanmarbella.bsky.social.