The recent buzz around Olathe West has been centered around our (many, many, many) snow days. But worse, is what people have said about making up for so many days off.

The changes made to the schedule all went into effect after Spring Break, and seem small at first. To begin, late starts on Thursdays are canceled, making the school days just as long as usual. However, the usual day now begins at 7:50 a.m.

Many are irritated at this, but the backlash hasn’t been that extravagant.

“I don’t think ten minutes will be that bad… it’s easier to get here earlier if you have your own car, so a lot [of students] will be fine,” sophomore Holly Barney said.  

Next, it was revealed that one of the days saved for finals, May 22, will now be a full day rather than half day. This will take away from some of that feeling of freedom at the end of the last day, but it won’t be devoted to learning, so it’s not as painful as imagined.

But as well as there being added time on previous days, there has also been new school days added onto our schedule.

It was also revealed that the Monday after Spring Break is no longer a professional development, day, but a regular school day. People like sophomore Jacob Jansen, are peeved at this change.

“Adding 10 minutes isn’t that bad, it’s adding days that… messes things up. We only missed a few snow days, why do we need to make all of this up?” Jansen said.

But the most painful change is probably the one that hasn’t been definitively confirmed as of now. After the changed schedule was announced, Olathe had yet another snow day. It was brought up to the board and confirmed that the Friday before Prom, April 12, and previously a PD day, would now be a normal school day in order to make up for that.

This was confirmed by Mrs. Crane, English teacher and member of Olathe National Educator’s Association.

“It was sent in an e-mail to all of [the ONEA members] that the board had passed these plans, and now we can all review them,” she said.

After the board was done, ONEA paused the announcement to go over the ideas with teachers in the district. But don’t get your hopes up, this was most likely just a slight formality.

As Crane said, “More likely than not the day will be made a school day.”

But, even to those who worry about that, consider: Would you rather have an extra day in April or May? Yes, there may be some difficulties for those with plans that day, but a far worse option is having to stay in school in summer, and the loss of a PD day may just be worth it.

Lastly, let’s debunk some theories about what will happen if we have more snow days. The most ridiculous is about a school day on Saturday. Whether or not you’ve heard of it, a rumor has been going around that West will hold a school day on Saturday to make up for the time lost, but this is completely false for many reasons. Not only does it go against all staff contracts, making it illegal, but Kansas State and federal laws go against students being forced to come in on Saturdays or Sundays as well.

That rumor is particularly strange, but there is another that more are worried about. One that is reasonable, but can be debunked when actually considering the facts.

It was also spread that more days will definitely be added to the end of the year, but this is also not entirely correct. It is entirely possible for additional days, but not as likely considering that Spring Break has already passed. There is no need for additional days at the moment, as long as the April 12th plans are approved, and no need to worry about more school days due to winter being closer to its end.

In any situation, there’s not much more chance of a snow day in Olathe, since we’re already in March. Meaning that there’s no need for much more worry about additional time in school, and what we have out now is most likely what we’re sticking to.

The truth is, what’s been given is a good situation for all students. They will meet the minimum amount of hours needed to graduate, only sacrifice a day or two, ten minutes each day, and one half-day, and in the end still got many snow days for rest and relaxation.