School District Wants “Calamity Day” Approval

Students at three Muskingum County school districts will not be happy to hear they may have to make up that October 19th day they had off, due to the exotic animal release.

The state does not consider it a calamity day.

Zanesville, West Muskingum and Maysville closed under the advisement of the Muskingum County Sheriff’s Office to ensure the safety of their students. Zanesville City Schools recently submitted a waiver to the Department of Education, to see if that day in October, won’t count against them at the end of the school year.

"So right now, we’re just waiting on word back to see if they do waive that day. If they do not, then we’ll just have to add the day onto the end. But right now we’re just waiting. And whatever they tell us to do, that’s exactly what we will do," said Student Services Coordinator Kevin Appleman.

Appleman said that regardless of the outcome, he hopes to receive an answer, just in case something like this happens again.

"I think they’re going to try to put a clause in, for something similar to this, because there could be other things that could come up across the United States or the state of Ohio, where the sheriff’s department or the fire department or whoever to say ‘Hey, for the safety of the children, we need to close’."

The state allows five calamity days for situations related to hazardous weather or epidemics.