By Sam Morgen

This winter, schools in the Christian County School District will have a new tool to keep lesson plans on schedule in the event of an extended period of snow days.

The new snowSMART program will allow teachers to post assignments online, for students to complete while the weather forbids safe passage to school. Students will be able to access their teacher’s assignments and messages through their teacher’s web pages, on each school’s website.

Each school will come up with an individual snowSMART plan and schools will communicate their plan with students and parents. Students who do not have access to the internet can work with their teachers to obtain assignment packets after the snow days. In the event that teachers have advanced warning of a snow day, packets can be handed out beforehand.

District Director of Communications Heather Lancaster said snowSMART would only be used after nine days of canceled classes. The state requires the school district to provide 170 days of instructional time, and the district schedules 173 days as a buffer against class cancellations.

If a school falls behind on the amount of instructional time provided to students in a school year, additional minutes may be added to the beginning or ending of a school day to make up that time. Additional days may also be added to the end of the school year to make up the lost time.

District Superintendent Mary Ann Gemmill makes the decision to close schools by working with district Chief Operations Officer Brad Hawkins in consultation with the district transportation department.

The district primarily considers whether buses can safely navigate their routes during the event of a potential school closure.

“A lot of our parents are working parents and they need to make plans,” Lancaster said. “So we are very mindful of that.”

Parents looking for more information regarding snowSMART can contact their child’s teacher or principal