Illinois district defends having school on King day

WINNEBAGO, Ill. (AP) — The superintendent of a northern Illinois school district is defending a decision to hold classes on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to make up for a snow day in November.

Some members of the Rockford-area NAACP criticized the Winnebago district, west of Rockford. But Superintendent John Schwuchow (SWO'-ko) says students in the district's four schools learned about King's legacy and impact.

He says, "We used it as an opportunity to build the value behind what Dr. King accomplished."

Monday was set aside as a possible weather makeup day at the start of the school year. The superintendent says students would have been off if they hadn't had a snow day earlier in the year.