Will Extreme Cold Close Schools On Monday?

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - More severely cold temperatures are expected to hit Minnesota on Monday, and that means school could be cancelled yet again for thousands of students.

Mary Olson, spokesperson for Anoka-Hennepin Schools, says the district has received many phone calls from parents asking if schools will be closed Monday due to the predicted cold.

She says the district will wait until Sunday to make the call, but they will cancel school if the weather is cold as or colder than it's been on previous "cold days."

"If it's 40 below wind chill on one day and it's 40 below wind chill on another day, the impact is the same on kids' skin and their safety," she said.

As of Friday afternoon, Minneapolis Public Schools also hadn't made a decision. Lauretta Towns teaches writing at Hiawatha Academies, which typically follows the decisions by Minneapolis Public Schools whether or not to cancel school.

"It is definitely frustrating," Towns said. "As teachers, it get's hard for planning. In a sense, we have these standards that we have to teach, but we don't necessarily know how much time we have to teach them."

Even the students, like sixth grader Ignacio Romero, are frustrated having so many days off.

"It's kind of strange," Romero said. "I really like school. Education is really important for me."

Minneapolis Public Schools have yet to decide if the cold days will be made up at the end of the school year.

And getting the word out about closings is a challenge for any district, especially over a weekend. Minneapolis officials say they've gotten the hang of it after the last three days, and they're confident that the texts, emails, websites, social media and phone calls will be enough to make sure there's no confusion.

St. Paul Public School officials also say they'll likely wait till Sunday to make the final call, but most districts are urging parents to have a back-up plan as soon as possible.

Anoka-Hennepin schools say they want to avoid going into the summer in order to make up for lost time. The last three days didn't impact the calendar, but a forth one might. Their school session currently ends on June 12.

Minneapolis already used a teachers' workshop day scheduled in March for a make-up day.