Most Johnson County students only went to school one day last week, the first week of the 2025 winter semester.
A historic blizzard that hit the region on Sunday and a second round of snowfall overnight on Thursday led Johnson County school districts, including Blue Valley, Olathe and Shawnee Mission, to use up nearly all of their budgeted snow days in less than a week.
With snow now out of the forecast and local roads mostly cleared, students are back in school Monday, but with much of winter still ahead, there remains the possibility that districts will need to use more snow days in coming weeks.
That means students may have to make up that missed class08time some other way, including the possibility of adding school days at the end of the year if more inclement weather forces Johnson County schools to cancel more class days and go over the snow days budgeted into their calendars.
Here’s a status check of where Johnson County school districts are at with their snow days:
Districts are left with 1 to 3 remaining snow days
Students in Shawnee Mission, Blue Valley and Spring Hill school districts were all scheduled to return to school on Monday, Jan. 6, following winter break, meaning those districts used four of their budgeted snow days last week.
USD 232 in De Soto, Gardner Edgerton and Olathe students were already scheduled to be off on Jan. 6, meaning those districts used just three snow days last week.
Here’s a look at how many snow days four of the six Johnson County school districts have left, based on the days used last week and the number of snow days each district built into its calendar:
- Blue Valley: two remaining days of its budgeted five snow days
- Olathe: one remaining day of its budgeted four snow days
- Shawnee Mission: one remaining day of its budgeted four snow days
- USD 232: three remaining days of its budgeted six snow days
Gardner Edgerton and Spring Hill school district officials did not immediately return requests for comment for this story, clarifying the number of snow days they have left.
Make-up days can be done in a variety of ways
Erin Schulte, the assistant communications director for Olathe Public Schools, told the Post that school districts calculate built-in snow days in instructional hours.
Schulte said in previous years when the district has exceeded its allotted snow day total, Olathe has extended the school day by 10 minutes, avoiding adding days to the end of the calendar.
Kaci Brutto, the director of communications for Blue Valley Schools, said the district “will continue to monitor the situation and make adjustments as necessary.”
David Smith, the chief communications officer for Shawnee Mission schools, told the Post that it’s too early to know how the blizzard will affect the rest of the school calendar.
“This is a major weather event that has impacted the entire state,” Smith said. “At this point, we are not ready to speculate about how this might impact the calendar at the end of the year.”
School districts look at weather, travel conditions for cancellations
- Schulte told the Post that Olathe looks at temperature, precipitation, wind speed and wind chill, as well as road and sidewalk conditions when considering canceling school.
- In addition to weather and road conditions, Brutto said Blue Valley also takes into consideration input from the bus company and maintenance teams.
- USD 232 considers weather and road conditions, as well as the various ways students travel to school and keeping in mind how early some staff members leave for work, according to its website.
- Smith said Shawnee Mission “make(s) decisions based on whether we can get students and staff to and from school safely.”
- Johnson County districts weren’t alone in canceling classes after last week’s blizzards: nearly all local public school districts in the Kansas City area, on both sides of the state line, canceled classes four or five days last week.
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