Due to the extreme weather Minnesota has been experiencing, all K-12 schools in the Edina School District were cancelled Jan. 6 and Jan. 7. On Jan. 6, the cancellation was due to a statewide decision declared by Governor Mark Dayton, but on Jan. 7, the cancellation was decided by the Edina School District Superintendent, Dr. Ric Dressen. Though the weather will still be quite extreme for the rest of the week, Dr. Dressen suspects that school should be back in session on Wednesday. On the issue of making up school, Dressen commented, “At this time, the district will not make-up the January 6th or 7th student contact days.  If the district would have additional emergency school closing days, the leadership would likely consider make-up days due to the number of missed school days.”

Though it is nice to have an extended winter break, many Edina High School students and faculty are stressed about the upcoming finals. Senior Ben Kilberg commented on the matter, “[I’m] definitely more stressed. There is less in-class review time which means less help from teachers and more homework.” Also, some teachers are having complications trying to get to all of their material before finals. When asked if she will be able to teach everything before finals, French teacher Kimberly Caster replied, “No, but I’ll regroup. The biggest issue is finishing projects and films that were scheduled for before finals. I doubt I will change the final though.” Due to this loss of days, the administration is meeting to discuss how the loss of the time will impact the end of the semester and whether or not finals should be pushed back.

Though the cancellations do add stress for finals, many kids are enjoying the extra two days of break. Many students have taken advantage of their time to catch up on homework or simply relax some more. “On my extra days off I have been sleeping, preparing for the DECA competition, eating, getting ahead on homework, and sleeping some more,” commented Kilberg. Teachers have taken the opportunity to catch up on work too, “In my extra time I have been grading, grading, grading (and watching Downton Abbey),” commented Caster.