As cold weather temperatures persisted, Park closed its doors to students and faculty once again to ensure safety from dangerous conditions on Jan. 23, Jan. 27 and Jan. 28.

Contrasting the previous days off earlier in January, these closings caused complications, occurring during finals days and using up the remaining time allotted for breaks, according to an announcement posted on the district website.

After the posting appeared on the district website last Wednesday night announcing cancellations for the following day, students reacted differently to the news.

Sophomore Lexie McChesney said she enjoyed the news and the break from finals.

“At first, I was sort of annoyed because I wanted to get my finals done, but now I’m really happy there’s extra time to study and relax,” McChesney said.

However, some students were frustrated with the large break between the two scheduled testing days.

Senior Dwayne Green said he had anticipated and prepared for exams the next day.

“Last Thursday kind of threw me off because I was prepared for my finals,” Green said. “Now I have to take them this week.”

Others, such as sophomore Azziza Martin, felt like the days off were not productive and will impact their performance on their finals.

“I feel like my finals aren’t going to be as good as they should be since we are not being proactive in class and in school like we usually are,” Martin said.

When school resumes, so will finals with a new schedule. As posted on Park’s website, period 2 will be from 8:20 to 9:50 a.m., period 4 will be from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m, lunch will be from 11:30 to 12:15 p.m., advisory will be from 12:20 to 1:20 p.m. and period 7 will be from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. Additionally, distribution of schedules for semester two will occur from 3:00 to 3:10 p.m. in the cafeteria.

Also, although the school will remain closed on the 28, after-school activities and athletics will take place as previously scheduled.

In addition to the issue regarding finals, the district now faces the challenge of making up the time lost, according to District Communications Coordinator Sara Thompson. Thompson said district officials have not yet come to a decision, requiring more time to be finalized.

“What we’ll need to do is a process where we take input from all of the district stakeholders, so students, parents, staff, we’ll have to look at staff contracts and see what we can do and then get input from all of our stakeholders in terms of what is the best solution for everyone,” Thompson said. “That’s a process we’re going to need to go through and it’s going to take some time.”

As it is now necessary to make up the days off, Martin said she questions whether they were worth it or not.

“I honestly don’t want to stay in school longer than what was set,” Martin said. “I don’t think having these days off is really worth it because it’s just prolonging the school year.”

Nevertheless, for students like McChesney who don’t prefer the cold weather, the days off provided an enjoyable time to retreat from the weather.

“I think adding some hours won’t be so bad, especially because it would be such a bother to have to endure these temperatures,” McChesney said.