Even answered snow day prayers won't get Kearsarge students out of class this winter.

The Kearsarge Regional School District covers so much territory that bad weather can mean snow days in some of its seven towns and flood days in others. Last year, eight days were canceled throughout the district, and the high school lost another day for the only swine flu cancellation in the state.

Tired of tacking on school days through the last days of June, district administrators received the state's permission to have students work from home up to three days this year. Teachers are now preparing online lessons and hard copy equivalents that will be distributed in canvas "blizzard bags" by early December, said Assistant Superintendent Robin Steiner. There's no guarantee the district's 2,300 miles of bus routes will be ice-free until then, but Steiner said the program won't start until teachers are confident everything is ready.

"We were thinking, are there other ways we can fulfill the state requirement of 180 days?" Steiner said. "If we have these 21st-century learning skills we would like kids to acquire anyway, this is a way to do it."

Students will be required to complete the lessons in their customized blizzard bags, which will be designed to replace an ordinary school day, Steiner said. Math lessons might be designed on a website the district already uses and accompanies with worksheets. Physical education teachers might ask kids to do jumping jacks or build a snow fort.

Since the program emphasizes online learning for students who can access computers, blizzard bag days will not be called when power outages are widespread, Steiner said. Families will learn from automated telephone alerts whether inclement weather means a full day of work or an academic reprieve.

Amy Cook, a mother of two students at the elementary school in Bradford, said she is in full support of the program, even though her family sometimes makes snow days into ski days.

"It's a great opportunity to teach kids to balance work and play," she said.

Even teachers like an occasional snow day, said Deb Cantrell, who teaches fourth grade at Sutton Central School, but she said getting school days over during the winter will pay off in June.

"Summer is knocking on everybody's door, and you still have so much of your curriculum to cover," Cantrell said. "That psychological factor is hard to beat."

Students will receive a full day of schoolwork, and teachers at the elementary level will be available by e-mail or phone to answer questions, she said.

"They might not know if I'm in my pajamas or in my jeans, but they'll know I'm available," Cantrell said.

The blizzard bag days won't be a big adjustment for Paula Mercier, an eighth-grade language arts teacher who said she suggested online work on four snow days last year. Her students responded well, she said, and she expects online learning to appeal to other children.

"The autonomy and the choice that's built in," she said. "That sort of thing has been very popular with young learners."

When the Department of Education approved the pilot, then-Commissioner Lyonel Tracy said the program could spread to other districts if it is successful, according to district officials. Mercier said she is sure the blizzard bags will catch on.

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