HOPE – The school district with the most snow days in Bartholomew County this winter has been Flat Rock-Hawcreek, in Hope.
Students will have to make up the latest school closing on Good Friday. If inclement weather closes the campus again, that day will be made up on the same day that Hauser High School holds its annual commencement.
Just as FRHC students were preparing to return after a two-week holiday break, the snow storm of Jan. 5-6 dumped nearly a foot of snow on the northeast side of the county.
That forced Hope Elementary, as well as those at Hauser Jr.-Sr. High students, to stay home nearly a week longer then expected. More closings and half-day sessions have occurred with more snowfall.
After surpassing the three snow days that Indiana allows to not have to be made up, the Martin Luther King Day observance on Jan. 20 was used as the first snow make-up day.
President’s Day (Feb. 17) was intended to be another in-house make-up day, but due to an unexpected overnight snowfall, the campus on Hope’s south side was closed Monday as well.
FRHC superintendent Shawn Price says the in-school make up day has been rescheduled to April 18 this year. That’s the Friday before Easter.
If the district has to do another cancellation, Price said the make-up day will be May 23. That evening, commencement exercises for the Class of 2025 will be held in the Hauser gymnasium.
“If there are any additional school days cancelled due to snow, they will be made up through e-learning,” Price said. “Information will be sent out about that.”
During the 2020 pandemic, FRHC officials had to move quickly to ensure each students could attend classes from home via high-speed internet.
As part of the registration process today, each family is asked if they have reliable internet in their residences, the superintendent said.
“At last check, about 90% of the families confirmed they have reliable Wi-Fi at home,” Price said.
For the 10% who don’t, the school corporation has reserved enough hotspots to serve students who need them, Price said. Students still check out hot spots from time-to-time when they need it, Price said.
A mobile hotspot is a physical location where people can connect to cellular data networks, just like a cell phone does, with the use of a Wi-Fi router.
