Take a drone flight over snow-covered Cincinnati and Blue Ash
Aerial views of downtown Cincinnati and Summit Park in Blue Ash after record snowfall from Winter Storm Fern.
- Cincinnati Public Schools faced criticism after canceling school for three days last week due to a record-breaking snowstorm.
- The district’s complex transportation system and limited technology access make two-hour delays or remote learning difficult.
- CPS has to meet a minimum number of instructional hours set by the state to avoid making up the recent snow days.
The comments were, well, critical: “Contradictory to keeping students safe;” “wildly inconsistent;” “sad;” “totally irresponsible.”
They were among over 700 comments that flooded Cincinnati Public Schools’ Facebook post announcing the district was reopening Jan. 29 after it had canceled school for three consecutive days. CPS joined schools across Greater Cincinnati that saw streaks of snow days last week amid the record-breaking snowstorm that coated the region in ice and brought frigid temperatures.
Every winter, the issue of school cancellations rears its head, prompting a range of critiques from parents. North College Hill City Schools’ Superintendent Eugene Blalock Jr. even called snow days “one of the toughest decisions a superintendent faces” in a social media post announcing, after “praying on it,” the district would close on Jan. 28.
Now comes the next phase: What to do about school days that were missed and whether to schedule makeup days.
Here’s what to know.
Where does Cincinnati Public Schools stand with its snow days?
The district did not respond to Enquirer questions about how many instructional hours CPS has built into its 2025-26 academic year, as an Ohio law passed in 2014 requires districts to host 910 hours for students in full-day kindergarten up to sixth grade and 1,001 hours for students in grades 7-12.
But it appears that CPS will most likely not have to make up days this year.
Per its website, the district is in session for 171 days for students from the end of August to the end of May. As most CPS secondary schools last seven hours a day, from 8 a.m. to around 3 p.m., they already have 1,197 hours built into their schedule.
That means the district’s middle schools and high schools would need to miss the equivalent of 28 days before being faced with the decision of whether to add make-up days in the summer.
As for CPS’s elementary schools, many of which are in session for 6.5 hours per day, they have 1,111.5 days scheduled this year, meaning they can have up to 31 snow days before adding make-up days.
Regarding closing schools for weather, unlike other districts like Mason City Schools and Covington Independent Schools, CPS does not specify what temperatures might elicit a school cancellation or delay.
When asked about the social media pushback it received regarding snow days, the district referred The Enquirer to a general statement, saying “Cincinnati Public Schools closed due to forecasted snow, extreme cold and dangerous wind chills” last week.
“In advising the superintendent, the District reviewed multiple weather forecasts, assessed conditions on District streets and considered the exposure students could face while walking or riding buses,” the statement read. “The same criteria are used to determine whether schools will be open on any inclement weather day.”
Ohio schools no longer use calamity days
State law previously allowed schools to take up to five days off in the school year called “calamity days” for emergencies like inclement weather. Any school closures beyond the five calamity days required districts to tag on make-up days at the end of the school year.
But a 2014 state law changed how school time is measured. Instead of days, Ohio districts now follow hour-based schedules.
Traditional public school districts, private schools and joint vocational schools now must be open for instruction for at least 455 hours for students in half-day kindergarten; 910 hours for students in full-day kindergarten up to sixth grade and 1,001 hours for students in grades 7-12.
Built into the minimum instruction hour requirement are up to two parent-teacher conference days, two professional meeting days for teachers and recess for students in kindergarten through sixth grade.
Like Talawanda City Schools in Oxford did during the severe weather last week, Ohio schools can pivot to online instruction to make up a maximum of three school days canceled due to hazardous weather or other permitted circumstances.
In Northern Kentucky, state law allows up to 10 days of “nontraditional instruction,” or remote online learning, to count toward student attendance. Covington Independent Schools opted for this, doing remote learning Jan. 26-30, it announced in a Facebook post.
Why doesn’t CPS opt for 2-hour delays or remote learning amid severe weather?
In contrast with neighboring districts, options for delaying or switching to virtual learning due to severe weather are limited for CPS given its unique circumstances, the district’s board president Brandon Craig told the Enquirer.
Firstly, the district’s “intricate system” of yellow bus and Metro services for its students, paired with the busing the district is required, per Ohio Revised Code, to provide for private and charter school students, means there is not much flexibility for delays, Craig said.
Many of the district’s middle schoolers and high schoolers ride the Metro buses to school, which cannot change routes to accommodate a school delay.
Remote learning is another option complicated by the fact that a number of the district’s families do not have Internet access or a laptop to accommodate virtual schooling. And due to a board policy decision made amid budget concerns, Craig said, the district’s one-to-one laptop policy is now only offered to students in grades 7-12.
In the four years that Craig has served on CPS’s board of education, the district has never opted for virtual learning during a snow day, partly because “they are so few and infrequent,” Craig said.
Plus, he added, “They are not ideal. We saw that during COVID. It’s difficult to maintain an academic rigor during that remote-day format.”
Akron Beacon Journal education writer Kelli Weir contributed to this report.
