Both district 99 high schools will be closed Wednesday and Thursday Jan 30 and 31 due to extreme cold weather conditions. This will add two more days off to an already shortened week due to a snow day Monday Jan 27.

“As you are likely aware, dangerously cold temperatures will be moving into the area with a drop in temperatures beginning at 6 p.m. today. By 10 p.m. dangerous conditions will take hold and are expected to remain through mid-day Thursday,” Superintendent Hank Thiele wrote in an email sent to all students.

All after school activities will remain scheduled for Tuesday Jan 29, but are to end before 5 pm. No sports or activities will be held outside.

“Some of my classes will be postponed, but a lot of my homework and stuff is online,” Senior Liam Johnson said. “The musical won’t be able to rehearse, so this will push back our preparedness.”

No activities will occur on either Wednesday or Thursday evening. All activities for Friday are still taking place.

“Our state competitions start on Saturday, but the cold tomorrow is gonna be brutal. We aren’t gonna try to risk anything, and the couple days of rest might actually help the kids,” Wrestling Coach Christopher McGrath said.

The day following these two cold days will also be a 9:20 late arrival day.

“Our bus service provider, First Student, has just notified us that the extremely cold temperatures have negatively impacted its fleet of buses. As a result, to ensure that all of the buses are running and are on time to pick up students, we have arranged for tomorrow to be a Late Arrival day at District 99,” Thiele wrote in another district wide email.

The district has had 3 days off within the course of one week.

“We will make decisions on how this impacts the school calendar next week,” a district statement said.

Presidents day this year is already instituted as a “Flexible Learning Day”, but this will be the only day that will make up for one of the district four extreme weather days off. It has not been decided if the school year will be extended.

“I think we will graduate at the same time,” Johnson said.