School officials shouldn’t have to count days on the calendar when fighting Mother Nature so that they can ensure student safety comes first.

That is essentially what is happening as school administrators across the state — and certainly Southern Ohio this year — try to overcome an unrealistic requirement that could cause someone to keep schools open simply to follow the law.

Thankfully, Lawrence County’s school officials have made the right decisions, putting student safety first even if it causes problems well into summer.

But that doesn’t make the passage of House Bill 36 any less important.

The proposed law, sponsored in part by Rep. John Carey who represents the eastern half of Lawrence County, would give schools a little more leeway in terms of days allowed to close due to inclement weather as well as more flexibility in making up those days.

Right now schools are only allowed to be closed three days because of snow or ice before they gave to start making them up. Several local schools have already had to close seven times.

And winter is only about half over.

It wouldn’t be surprising if the region was hit by another powerful storm or two.

HB 36 would give schools another two days as well as allow days to be made up by staying 30 minutes later each day.

It is important that schools hit the designated number of instruction days because these are laid out with specific goals and objectives in mind. But that shouldn’t come at the cost of student safety.

After all, that would be forgetting the reason we are there in the first place: the students.