When does a snow day become unnecessary
Are”snowdays” helpful or unnecessary
January 17, 2023
Each winter the snow days keep adding up. students and teachers dread the end of the school year when the snow days have to be made up. Already this year a snow day has been used when it didn’t need to be used. Make-up days/online learning days are unnecessary for both teachers and students because most of the students don’t even join Webex, the teachers don’t put on their Webex, teachers don’t give out assignments or the students won’t do the assignments. It can be a win-win situation for both students and teachers. It can also be frustrating for them both.
For example, most students nowadays think of snow days as a free day (which in my opinion still should be a free day/off day) but now with online learning being a normal routine, we can’t have an off day. Coming from personal experience, I know that some teachers don’t even put up their Webex and give no assignments.
If there’s hardly any snow on the ground then we should go to school. Teachers putting out no assignments on “normalish” days is just unnecessary. Another perspective coming from a student is if the teachers give out little or simple assignments, the students aren’t going to do them. Students think of snow days as an off day as we’ve known it for several years. So if there is no point in giving students assignments then there’s no point in giving unnecessary snow days.
Attendance rates are already low throughout the year, especially towards the end of the year, so adding unnecessary snow days then absences will be even higher because the students will get comfortable with staying at home so they will want to do it more.
A better thing to do instead of an unnecessary snow day would be a delay, which means that we would still be able to go to school. I know that a lot of people would like to sleep in a little bit before school, especially on a “snowy day”.
Along with the idea of having online days instead of snow days, the time frame they give us to log in to Webex and meet with our teachers is 25 minutes with a 5-minute break in between. Thinking about the 25 minutes they give us to “learn” the first 10 are students logging in and the teachers taking attendance. That leaves 15 minutes to try to squeeze in a time to talk about what to do for the day which takes away the “snow day” idea because now students have work they have to do instead.
With snow days students can use those days to catch up on work, talk to their teachers, and just relax. There is so much stress and pressure put on students and teachers that sometimes they may need a break, so a snow day is a perfect time for that.
Having snow days also prevent students and teachers from driving in harsh and dangerous conditions. This means that there are fewer people on the roads and it essentially keeps people safe.
When we have snowy days some kids go and work by shoveling snow for neighbors and other businesses to make money. Some kids meet up with friends and go sledding while others stay home watching movies and drinking hot cocoa.
When the school calls a snow day, some parents will call in to work, or their work will close as well giving the student and parent more bonding time or a time to be together. As life gets busy students and parents start to drift apart not having enough time to be together with parents working, students having homework, trying to go to bed at a reasonable time, some students are working as well, and just trying to be kids hanging out with friends, playing games to distress, watching tv to take their mind off of all other things happening in their lives.
Anne M • Mar 23, 2023 at 9:35 pm
I don’t know what is going on with school districts and snow days but it has gotten out of hand. I have lived in the same community in Michigan my entire 62 years of my life. One thing is certain about Michigan, we get a lot of snow in the winter and we are very used to it. A foot of snow is usually cleaned up and roads are clear within 24 hours. When I was a kid school was rarely canceled. It would always depend when the snow fell. If we had a overnight snowstorm and there was no time to get the roads clear, then school was canceled. Or if we woke to heavy snow falling and more to come, they would cancel. What is happening now in our school district is terrible! They are canceling school before one flake of snow has even fallen! Last week they canceled school for a predicted snow storm that didn’t start until late in the afternoon when the kids would have all been home from school! A week later they canceled school when only 4 inches fell and it was 35 degrees outside so the roads were fine, just wet! We live in MICHIGAN, not FLORIDA! It snows here! My goodness this has gotten ridiculous! Why is it that teacher get to stay home on snow days too? They get paid by our tax dollars, there is no reason for teachers not to go to work when it snows like the rest of America! It would be a wonderful to have meetings, do planning, I am sure they can find something to do. They are getting paid to work, their is no reason not to be at work.