Snow days are upending Portland Public Schools' plans and stressing out parents who fear how far into summer break the school year could creep.

The Tuesday Portland school board meeting to adjust the academic calendar for weather was cut short due to weather.

Two days have already been added to the calendar, ending the year on June 13. At Tuesday's truncated meeting, the board voted to change the end of the current semester.

That means the teacher planning day, which is a day where kids do not go to school, was moved from Jan. 27 to Feb. 3.

The planning day change aims to add balance to the number of days in each semester.

School board members wrestled with the decision, not wanting to alter the calendar and create child care problems for families.

Grant High School Principal Carol Campbell told the school board high school seniors need those days of instruction in the first semester to have robust transcripts and get ready for college. Campbell noted that the decision wasn't an easy one and she'd support the board's call.



School board member Julie Esparza Brown, who called into the meeting, was the lone no vote. She said she was concerned about the disruption to families. School board member Steve Buel abstained from voting. He said he abstained because he felt the issue should be handled differently.





So far there have been five snow days this school year.

Moving the planning day was the only item on the agenda after the threat of icy conditions caused the board to delay all other matters.

As the curtailed meeting adjourned Tuesday evening, snow was falling in some parts of Portland and it remained unknown if the district was about to call its sixth snow day.

But later that night, sure enough, school was canceled yet again.

-- Bethany Barnes