Thirteen Kentucky School Districts Dealing with Snow Days the Best They Can, Despite What and Oregon News Service Thinks

The number of school days missed last year in 13 Kentucky districts , due to winter weather, was four times higher than the previous year. Now, will someone tell me why an online Oregon news service cares so much?

The headline reads, "Kentucky Takes the Fun Out of Snow Days; Now They're Home School Days."

What's the point in that borderline snarky headline that comes to us from a website based more than 2000 miles away?

Well, anyway, the main story here is how the Kentucky Department of Education is handling this particular situation, seeing as how there are school districts in Kentucky where Internet service is hard to come by.

And, yes, that's the issue. The home schooling while out of school because of snow would be done via Internet classes.

But many rural and/or poorer counties just don't have the access to Internet service like other counties do.

What the state has worked up involves a trade. The kids take home work packets or they download assignments from the Web in exchange for 10 snow days being forgiven.

Again, though, there's the issue of Internet availability, so a $200 million plan is in the works to lay 3000 miles of fiber-optic cables.

The sooner it's implemented the better.

For more information on this slightly complicated issue, click here.