Brighton Area Schools Superintendent Greg Gray says that Monday’s school day — to make up lost classroom time from too many snow days — was successful.

Although the attendance figures are not yet official, Gray says the average attendance district-wide was over 80%, and all district schools had over the 75% minimum attendance required to count as a full classroom day.

The snow day on Friday, March 2nd, had pushed the district over the limit, since only six snow days are allowed in a given academic year. Any more days off would have left the school district short of the minimum number of state-mandated hours required for classroom instruction. As a result, it was decided to have the make-up day on April 2nd, which otherwise would have been the last day of spring break.

Given the timing of the makeup day, some parents had to cut vacations short in warmer areas of the country in order to make it back home in time. Gray says that the last day of the school year is set for Friday, June 8th, but if attendance Monday had been below the minimum, the district would have had to extend it into Monday of the following week.

Gray says he just hopes there are no more snow days, remarking that even though the calendar says it’s spring, it’s also Michigan, and the weather in our state can often play unwelcome tricks on us. (TT)