
COVID has changed so much for our kids from school to playdates to canceled extra-curricular activities and holiday celebrations. But one interim superintendent feels that there’s still at least one tradition we can continue to uphold as we remain vigilant about stopping the spread of the virus: the snow day.
One of the moments kids look forward to most is waking up to see snow on the ground and hearing from a parent that school is canceled. Who among us doesn’t remember the true joy of a day spent making snowmen, drinking hot chocolate, instigating snowball fights and baking Toll House cookies?
In Mahwah, interim School Superintendent Leonard Fitts believes there are some parts of childhood that you just don’t mess with. In an email to parents last month, Fitts stated that the tradition of snow days would continue despite upended schedules due to COVID.
https://twitter.com/Aerocles/status/1321197402901065729
“Absolutely LOVE this from our school district superintendent,” posted one dad on Twitter. “Sure, we could do virtual classes on snow days now, but why would we take *another* thing away from the kids? I dunno what it says about me but this email almost made me cry.”
The dad posted his favorite part of the superintendent’s message: “We have decided that few childhood acts remain unchanged due to COVID-19 and we will maintain the hope of children by calling actual snow days due to inclement weather. Snow days are chances for on-site learners and virtual learners to just be kids by playing in the snow, baking cookies, reading books, and watching a good movie. These are times for memory-making, and we believe these types of opportunities should remain intact.”
“Currently, our school calendar has built into it snow days that can be used for inclement weather,” said Fitts in the email. “The determination to use a snow day is based upon the need for travel safety for both students and staff.”
Despite the fact that many students aren’t traveling to school anyway, Fitts said the snow day would remain an option – even if that wasn’t the preferred choice of some parents.
“We do recognize that our expertise in the area of virtual instruction has advanced throughout the last year,” he continued. “We also know that there are families that would rather we continue with virtual instruction instead of taking a day off for inclement weather.”
On the one hand, kids can certainly hope that New Jersey will even get enough snow this year to warrant an actual snow day (if it’s anything like last year they’re out of luck!). And yet…with kids home so much due to all-remote and hybrid learning schedules, the past eight months have felt like an extended snow day for many parents.
What do you think? Should schools still have snow days during COVID?