An historic snowfall shifted the start of second semester for schools all across the Kansas City metro, including Rockhurst. A blizzard on Jan. 5 that dropped 11 inches–the fourth-largest single-day snowfall in the city’s history, according to the National Weather Service–forced the cancellation of the first day of classes on Jan. 7.
Another round overnight on Jan. 9 forced the school to call a snow day for the first Friday of the semester–meaning the first week back from Christmas break was half as long as originally intended. This made it difficult for the teachers and students to become used to their new classes.
“The main challenge was reassessing my calendar and assignment deadlines, with respect that we went from block days to A/B days,” science teacher Dr. Leo Hirner said. “I just had to rethink my schedule in light of the change of days.”
The original schedule for the first week was a four-day week with two A-days and two B-days. Instead, the week ended up only being a late start (shortened) A-day and a regular B-day. This slowed down the beginning of the semester for students.
“It made it a lot more gradual. I had a better time adjusting and getting back into the flow,” junior Caleb McNamara said. “I had a lot more time to do my assignments and use my time better.”
Missing the first day of classes meant students and teachers worked to catch up when they were at school on Wednesday and Thursday, but as everyone headed home on Jan. 9 another storm was brewing.
Another two-plus inches of snow overnight gave way to the second snow day of the week on Friday, Jan. 10.
These two missed days of school set back the plans teachers had made to start second semester. While the following Tuesday was already set to be an A/B combo day, to recover some of the missed time, administrators made Monday one as well, meaning students went to all of their classes both days.
“The two A/B days were the worst days of my life,” McNamara said. “I was up until 11:30 on both nights.”
While back-to-back A/B days created more work for everyone involved, some teachers say it was needed.
“I thought the A/B day was a good compromise. It helped us get a little bit back on track,” Dr. Hirner said. “I lost less time with the A/B days than I would have on a straight block schedule.”
The schedule changes did force teachers to adjust their plans, with many shortening or even cutting out typical beginning-of-class activities, like going over the syllabus, assigning textbooks and so on.
In the big picture, the snow days required students and teachers to be flexible.
“Most of my teachers gave us the work we were going to be doing for the next class anyway, so this just gave me an extra day to myself to plan it out,” McNamara said. “I got to do all the stuff I wanted to, and do my work at my own pace.”
After the necessary adjustments the first couple weeks, both teachers and students settled in and began to find their rhythm. Up next, though, is something else that will cause some disruption to some classes: the return of the seniors from their service projects on Monday.
