This winter, there is one word that many local school teachers just don't like to hear anymore - canceled.
With one of the harshest winters on record, schools have been forced to cancel classes this year more than ever, and while a day at home to catch up on housework and grading papers sounds nice, teachers, and students alike say they would much rather spend their days in the classroom.
"I really don't like missing school," said Rick Halligan, a fourth-grade teacher at Cooper Elementary. "It gets the kids out of rhythm and then you have to do a lot of reteaching."
Halligan said he typically spends snow days at home helping to catch up on laundry and other household chores and transporting his children to and from the Fort Dodge Community Recreation Center.
"All this snow is getting ridiculous," he said. "I'm really hoping for some warmer weather soon."
For Mindy Waldera, a computer teacher at Fair Oaks Middle School, snow days mean she gets to spend a little extra time with her 9-year-old daughter, who is a fourth-grader at Cooper Elementary School.
"Like any mother, I am trying to keep my daughter entertained at home today," Waldera said.
Both Waldera and her daughter would much rather be spending time in the classroom, she said.
"She told me today she'd rather be going to school," Waldera said of her daughter. "But she's hoping to get to go sledding with a friend at Kennedy this afternoon."
For some teachers and students in the Fort Dodge Community School district, a snow day still means going to work.
John McBride, a language arts teacher at Fort Dodge Senior High, spent Tuesday - which marked the 10th snow day this school year in the Fort Dodge Community Schools - at work with a few of his journalism students putting the finishing touches on an issue of the school newspaper - the Little Dodger.
"We've got to get the paper out on time," he said.
McBride said the school newspaper publishes every three weeks, and over the past three months, each issue has been done on a snow day.
"This is the third issue we've done on a snow day," McBride said. "The December and January issues both came out on snow days. Last month we were a few days behind and handed out the paper two days late."
McBride said the last issue of the school paper was scheduled for May 18, but knows with the number of snow days the district has experienced that there will be plenty of time to add one more publication.
"We'll be here now to a point that I know we can add an issue to the paper between the scheduled last issue and the end of the year," he said.
Senior Jaime Pearson, an editor of the Little Dodger, also came in to school on a snow day to help get the paper out in a timely manner.
"Being here on a snow day, it's not something we really want to do, but at the same time we do want to get the paper out on time," Pearson said.
Pearson said the amount of work to be done depends on how much of the paper was completed before school was canceled.
"It all comes down to how many days we have missed," she said. "The block schedules make it difficult to make up the time."
Josh Smith, a math teacher at FDSH, said he didn't mind coming into work on a snow day.
"I was busy over the weekend," he said. "I've been able to get some tests graded and am going to work on some master's class work. But in the end, I would much rather be here teaching."
Both Smith and McBride also expressed some concern about how the winter weather will affect spring and summer sports schedules.
"I coach track and field," McBride said. "It's supposed to get started in March, but I look at all this snow and I wonder how."
"We'll be going into the summer just long enough that I know I will miss a few games because I will still be here teaching," Smith said.
When addressing the situation as a whole, McBride likely spoke for the majority of local teachers.
"It just needs to quit snowing around here," he said.
Contact Emilie Nelson at (515) 573-2141 or enelson@messengernews.net
