Highline teachers joke that with all the days to be made up at the end of the year, they may be organizing Fourth of July school pageants.

It's not that bad-yet.

With winter's end still two months away, Highline schools have been closed six days so far this school year due to wind and snow storms.

District officials expect to receive a one-day waiver from the state for the December windstorm because King County was declared a disaster area.

Friday, May 25, had been designated as a possible snow-day replacement. So students and teachers will get only a three-day Memorial Day weekend this year.

Tentatively, classes will now end on Wednesday, June 27-a week before Independence Day.

To take away days off during winter or spring breaks, the district would have to negotiate approval from the Highline Education Association, the teacher's union, according to district spokeswoman Catherine Carbone Rogers.

A new school calendar is expected to be posted on the district's web site (www.hsd401.org) by the end of this week.

The district has had to contend this year not only with an unusual amount of snow and ice but also the mid-December's severe windstorm.

"We want to keep school open if we can but safety is the main concern," Rogers noted. "Also, if the staff can't get here, we have to close the schools."

With many staffers living outside the district, conditions in outlying areas must also be considered.

The district's transportation director, facilities' staffers and security personnel check the roads at 2 or 3 a.m. on inclement mornings to assess conditions.

After looking at weather forecasts, they give a recommendation to Superintendent John Welch.

Welch makes the final call.

The goal, according to Rogers, is to make a decision by 4:45 a.m. with the information posted on the district's web site and distributed to the media by 5 a.m.

But sometimes that timeline does not work out.

Early on the morning of Jan. 16, during a new snowfall, Welch announced Highline schools would open two hours late.

"The forecast said the snow would stop by 9 a.m. but it kept on coming," Rogers said.

Welch reversed his decision and closed the schools after many employees were on their way to work.

"Some times it causes inconvenience to staff and students," Rogers added. "We regret it but the bottom line is student safety. We error on the side of safety."

Rogers suggests that concerned parents and employees sign up with schoolreport.org for automatic e-mails on closure announcements and closure changes.

Harried parents who need to go to their jobs occasionally question school closures.

On Jan. 12, main freeways and arterials were clear but Highline schools were shut down.

Side streets were still icy and emergency bus stops on main roads were not safe, Rogers reported.

On the other hand, district officials are also criticized when they keep schools open.

District board members received an anonymous letter from "Highline School District Parents and Employees" following the Dec. 14-15 windstorm, which said, in part:

"The Transportation Department compiled a two-page list of areas that were unsafe for buses and students due to downed trees and power lines, not including the massive loss of power for traffic signals throughout the district.

"School should have remained closed for Monday to allow repair crews time to locate these areas and then reopen on Tuesday with a two-hour delay-waiting for safer daylight hours.

"Deciding to reconvene school put many drivers, teachers, etc. in extremely dangerous conditions as well as hundreds more innocent students."

Reflecting on the art of deciding school closures, Rogers concluded, "Some are easy to call. Others are tougher because conditions change."