BUTLER TWP — Many students initially cheered for the snow days, but now with those additional days off possibly cutting into summer vacation and pushing graduation back, they're becoming more of a drag.

It's an issue that's frustrating from many viewpoints at schools, from teachers to cafeteria workers.

“Since Christmas, we've had only one five-day week,” said Dana Meute, a 12th grade English teacher at Butler High School. “And we're not out of the woods yet.”

She said some of her students have benefitted academically from the closings, giving them more time to study and complete work. But with any additional closures, her classes will be meeting further into June.

On Wednesday, the Butler School District had its sixth snow day this school year. With only four snow make-up days built into the calendar, the additional days will push the last day of school and graduation further into June.

Students have make-up days this coming Friday and Feb. 17, which were originally days off for students. There are also snow make-up days on April 17, 21, and 22.

But the most recent snow day will be made up June 9. That pushes Butler's commencement, as of now, to June 9, too. The last day of school and graduation were originally set for June 6.

The Mars School District also has announced a new last day and graduation day for students. With no built-in snow days in the Mars schedule this year, and five canceled days, those dates have been pushed back an entire week.

Students and staff will now have June 5 as their last day of school instead of May 29. Graduation will also be June 5.

Mars Superintendent Jim Budzilek said he has concerns with adding snow days onto the end of the school year because families plan vacations, and some students need to start their summer jobs or summer school.

Mars teacher Karen Yost said the day off on Wednesday was nice, not because she was relaxing, but because she was able to catch up with some of her paperwork

“I spent about five or six hours just getting caught up,” Yost said. “For me, this is like a gift.”

She said the snow cancellations and delays do affect her job because less planning means a lapse in lesson continuity.

“It's nice to have a day off, but it does affect instruction,” Yost said. “And with delays, you have to shorten lessons.”

But even with the last day of school pushed back at Mars and Butler, important testing schedules, like the Keystone exams and Advanced Placement tests, have set dates that do not change.

“Testing is, of course, a concern,” said Martin Rubio, a social studies teacher at Butler High School. “My bigger concern is two-hour delay days because they're not made up.”

On those days, many classes have reduced times that amount to less than a half-hour each. Butler schools have had four two-hour delay days and one early dismissal day in addition to the six closures. It can become a struggle to teach all the required lessons on shortened time, especially ones covered on state exams.

“I become a little more selective in what I need to get covered,” said Rachel Raker, a Butler High School math teacher.

Tests scheduled on those days become hard to administer, too, since students can't necessarily finish them in the shortened time.

But Rubio said teachers should be flexible when it comes to their schedules.

“If you're too rigid, you're going to be beating your head against the wall, and your head is going to break,” he said.

He said if it's not snow days, there are other scheduling conflicts that can occur, such as assemblies.

But it's not only teacher and student schedules that change with snow days. Sometimes the lunch menu has to be tweaked based on food availability.

For instance, at the Karns City School District lunch menus may differ from what's on the menu after a closure.

In the last week of January, Karns City students had three days off. Tacos were on the menu for that Monday, and beef was thawed and prepped before closures were announced.

“We had three days of school off (that week),” said Michelle Merchant, food service director at Karns City. “When we come back, we can't freeze everything again. Everything's prepped.”

She sometimes receives calls from confused parents wondering what their children will be served for lunch. She said it's simply a matter of using the food that's prepared even if that means going off the schedule for a day.

Eagle staff writer Paula Grubbs contributed to this report.

School closings due to cold and snow have forced school officials to decide how to make up those lost days of instruction.Here is what districts have done so students get the required number of instruction days before the end of the school year on June 30.• A-C Valley: With the last day of school and graduation originally set for May 29, those dates now are to be determined. They will be finalized in April.• Butler: The last day of classes has been pushed back from June 6 to June 9. Graduation day as of now is also on June 9. That date could be postponed with more snow days.• Freeport: The last school day and graduation are still scheduled for June 6.• Karns City: The school board will decide whether to have a snow make-up day on Feb. 17, which is Presidents Day. The last day of school and graduation remains June 5. Any more snow days could postpone those dates.• Mars: Classes, which were to be done on May 29, now extend to June 5. Graduation also is set for June 5.• Moniteau: The last school day and graduation still are set for June 5. Snow make-up days will be Feb. 17 and April 14, 15, 16, 17 and 21.• Seneca Valley: The school board is expected to decide at its meeting today on any changes to the calendar.• Slippery Rock: The last day of classes is still June 12, and graduation is still June 13, but those dates may change.• South Butler: The last day and graduation are still scheduled for June 6.• Union: The last day of classes and graduation are still scheduled for June 11.