Sometimes, life is a series of Plan Bs for day-to-day professionals.

Along with the blizzard came the uncertainty of what will happen to the local school schedule. Will there be an extended school year or shortened spring break? What happens to SOLs? Are teachers changing their courses to fit a shortened schedule?

A series of interviews with teachers at Battlefield High School provided several answers. As of Monday, the Prince William County school system had not issued any notice that the school year was subject to change. In fact, Prince William actually schedules more school hours into a typical year than the state requires.

Only nine out of what could be considered 15 "snow days" have actually been spent so far. The way the state works is that schools are supposed to complete a certain number of hours instead of a certain number of days. When the numbers work out though, Prince William schools are still in good shape and, at this point, it does not appear that the school year will change.

Nor have the May SOLs or the Advanced Placement test dates moved, though they would have to be changed state wide if adjusted at all.

"For those (teachers) that are doing SOL classes, they'll have to shorten some of the extended lessons for some of the material," said Stephen Davis, the social studies department chairman at Battlefield. That could mean future class dates will have to incorporate the regularly-scheduled daily lesson as well as "future lessons."

He said teachers will "have to stick to some of the meat and potato" information and "won't be able to do additional projects" to "enhance" their lessons.

Government teacher Joe Schelzo said he expects to cut what he called supplemental material. For instance, going into this week, his senior classes have met one time since January 22 due to exams and snow. That meant he scraped assignments like dissecting the most recent State of the Union address or running a mock Congress in favor of focusing on core parts of his lesson.

He's also planning to cut back on test review days, placing an emphasis on students studying on their own and approaching him with questions than dedicating full days to re-learning what he already taught.

"That's probably gone now until we get going again," he said.

Davis said he expects for SOL content that there will be "enough time between now and the end of the period" for review, as well as AP tests.

"We have so many more hours built into the school year as compared to what state mandates, that you can catch up," he said.

Students taking hands-on classes like art, robotics, band, etc., should have maximized their time away from school in order to prepare for the rest of the semester, according to arts teacher Vicki Burns. However, the 32-year teaching veteran said teachers need to be realistic: kids like to play during snow days.

She mentioned that online resources need to be utilized more now and that department teams will need to reassess their situation so their curriculum overlaps.

"It's going to take a lot of extra work on the students," she said.

That includes one of the most dreaded lines for any teenager: more homework.

"We're just going to have to rally together and do what's best for the students," she said.

One such way students can receive extra help is by attending after-school tutoring sessions that teachers often provide. Burns said she expects "more students participating in those than in the past, at least hopefully."

She added that "having the double storms has definitely (had) an impact but it's just going to take a collaborative effort from the parents making sure the students are doing what they're supposed to do and the students" striving hard too.

Ryan Ferrera, a U.S. history teacher and the boys basketball academic adviser, said he expects an increase of students who have good grades taking advantage of optional study halls that are mandatory for players struggling to keep their grades up.

He mentioned one player whose "crazy" home life left him without a quiet place to learn is taking advantage of the less-stressful environment at school. One of the biggest challenges student-athletes face is time management, which is where study halls can come into play as they are designated strictly for learning.

"I think what makes that problem pretty easy at Battlefield is our administration has a clear vision and teachers buy into that vision and that is student achievement comes first no matter what," he said. "Whatever individual issue a kid might have with making up the work... the teachers and coaches are going to agree to put (that) first."

Ferrera said that for him, the snow days actually forced him to determine the most important information his students needed, which turned out to be a mixed blessing.

"I had to pick and choose instead of doing everything that I had. That could be a good thing too because it made me prioritize what (are) the essential knowledge, the essential key pieces of the curriculum," he said. "In some ways, it focuses on some things more."