The week of January 19, an arctic blast arrived in West Michigan, which turned out to be the coldest winter blast since 2019. Along with frigid temperatures, negative wind chill, and heavy lake effect snow, school closings occurred in every school in West Michigan on Tuesday.
Spring Lake had school cancellations Monday-Thursday, with Friday off and Wednesday’s night’s in-person conferences rescheduled.
Temperatures severely decreased within the days Monday through Wednesday. During these days, the highs were single digits. Overnight temperatures fell below zero and wind chills below 25 below zero. Across West Michigan, the average temperature was reported to be below 10 degrees, with a reported amount of 8 to 12 inches of snowfall, according to WZZM 13. There were also whiteouts that caused many crashes to happen, which caused part of a freeway closure on I-94.
For Spring Lake there is a maximum of six snow days a year, along with an additional three days if waived and requested. There have already been seven snow days but it is unclear whether or not we will need to make up the days yet. Superindent Dennis Furton said this will all get sorted out when Spring Lake staff feels confident there will not be any additional snow days.
The process of deciding on making up school days based on the amount of snow days encountered has to do with the Michigan Department of Education (MDE). The waiver of requesting up to three days is not always approved by the MDE. The requirement that the MDE looks for is the amount of in-person school days a year. Spring Lake has 176 contact days due to the snow days, but the MDE likes schools to have 180 contact days.
