PLYMOUTH, MASS. (WHDH) - The first major snowstorm during the pandemic is leaving school districts with a big decision to make — snow day or no snow day?
With many communities in the Bay State expected to get up to a foot of snow Thursday, schools are faced with the decision to cancel classes or move them online.
Evan and Ava French said they will be keeping their fingers crossed hoping for a big snowfall.
Normally they would be learning remotely, but if it snows enough, Plymouth Superintendent Dr. Christopher S. Campbell said that traditional snow days will continue and that it’s in the best interest to have, “a day off for students to enjoy and for our school community to stay safe.”
Their mom Heidi said this is just what the family needed to hear.
“I think it just gives them something else to do,” she said. “Kind of take their mind off everything else that’s going on.”
Several school districts have been learning remotely or are under a hybrid model of online and in-person learning due to the pandemic, meaning many students have the resources to still attend classes virtually even during a big storm.
In Cambridge, Superintendent Dr. Kenneth Salim put families on alert.
“CPS will continue to operate a fully remote school day,” he wrote. “All students are expected to fully participate in classes. Attendance will be taken.”
Peabody Public Schools is among the districts teaching through a hybrid-learning model.
Superintendent Josh Vadala said that instead of a snow day, “there is an opportunity for us to engage in remote learning because that instruction, that continuous instruction, is better than a day lost.”
He added that students can look at the bright side of not having a snow day.
“You’re trading a snow day for maybe a day in the summer, so there’s another benefit in there as well,” Vadala said.
In Lowell, the school committee recently approved a change to its school cancelation policy, where they can call for a full-remote learning day rather than delaying or canceling classes due to weather.
French said sitting behind a computer screen with snow falling outside would be a tough task for her kids.
“For them to sit there and have to be learning, I think it would be impossible,” she said. “I think we need it — a little break from all this craziness.”
Schools closing and delays can be found here.
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