(Radio Iowa) — The weekend’s winter weather is blamed in at least three deaths in the state. The Grundy County Sheriff’s Office says a car went out of control on Highway 14 on Sunday afternoon, crossed the center line and collided with a semi. Both people in the car were killed. Deputies say the area had gotten about six inches of snow and the road was slick.

Police in Cedar Rapids say officers responded after someone found a man’s body, face down outside on Saturday afternoon. Investigators say it appeared he’d been there for some time and was frozen. Foul play is not suspected.

And, it’s still not known what caused a weekend house fire in southeast Iowa that left a young boy dead. When Oskaloosa firefighters arrived at the home on Friday night, they were told seven-year-old David Fogle was trapped in the basement. The boy’s mother, Angelia Wells, had tried to get to him, unsuccessfully, and was badly burned. Firefighters did eventually rescue the child but he died later at the hospital. Two other children made it out safely. The Mahaska County Community Emergency Response Team is collecting donations for the family.

Several Democratic presidential candidates are closing out the long holiday weekend on the campaign trail, with stops planned across states key to securing their party’s nomination. On Presidents Day, much of the campaign trail spotlight moved to New Hampshire, home to the first presidential primary. Three candidates, Sens. Kamala Harris of California, Cory Booker of New Jersey and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, planned to campaign in the state. The three senators are crisscrossing the state, making their first trips to it since launching their 2020 presidential bids.

Booker has been in the state for a few days and will wrap up his trip with a house party in Nashua. House parties are a staple of campaigning in the state. Harris planned an afternoon town hall in Portsmouth and will participate in the Politics & Eggs breakfast on Tuesday. Klobuchar will hold a meet-and-greet in Goffstown on Monday before a CNN town hall.

Meanwhile, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York was back in Iowa, the leadoff caucus state, with plans to meet voters in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. Former Rep. John Delaney of Maryland, who also is running for president, was campaigning in Iowa as well.

(Radio Iowa) — The leader of the Iowa Department of Education has been getting a lot of calls and questions as the number of school days canceled by winter weather continues to mount. Director Ryan Wise says making up the days depends on whether school districts set their yearly calendar based a set number of hours or a set number of days.  “If schools have a days calendar — they have to have at least 180 school days of instruction,” Wise explains. “If they choose a calendar based on instructional hours — they need to have a thousand and 80 hours of instruction over the course of the year.”

School districts had to tack missed days onto the end of the school year or cut short spring break to make up missed days the hour option was added with a change in state law 2014. Wise says it’s become the calendar of choice. “I believe about 95 percent of districts have an hours calendar and so, that allows them the flexibility to do creative things like add additional minutes on to the end of the day. So, they lengthen their school day for a set period of time for the remainder of the year,” Wise explains.

Schools that use the 180-day calendar need to have students in class for a minimum number of hours to qualify as a day. “Six hours of instruction meets the minimum requirement for a day of instruction toward the 180-days requirement,” according to Wise. “And schools are also allow to use parent-teacher conferences to count toward the days of instruction.” The Department of Education doesn’t keep a running total of school days — but Wise says he’s heard it ranges from more than 10 to less than 10. One of the questions he gets is if the Ed Department or the governor can waive the calendar requirement in years like this one. “There’s no power granted to the governor or the department or the director to waive that requirement, ” he says.

Each district makes its own decision on when the weather is too bad to hold classes. “It is absolutely one of the toughest decisions that our superintendents have to make,” Wise says, “and I don’t envy them at all in having to make that call.” He says the superintendents do a good job of making those decisions based on the what’s best for the safety of the students and school employees.  Wise says the number of snow days this year varies widely across the state. “I’ve heard in some places 10-plus days have been missed, and in others it’s been less than that.”