Snow Days and Remote Learning: Are they a Thing of the Past?

Prior to 2020, distance learning was a niche idea at best, mostly used to serve people living far away from schools or children who were physically unable to attend. However, with the COVID-19 outbreak, the situation changed radically. Most schools implemented and deployed systems for remote learning, so that classes could continue despite lockdowns and quarantines.

This has led some to wonder, should schools even have "snow days" anymore? Snow days used to be a beloved part of the school experience, but strictly speaking, they may not be necessary.

Should schools simply go online whenever it's too dangerous for students and buses to drive?

Considerations Around Ditching Snow Days

There's a lot to think about here.

1) Required school days

Every state has hard requirements on how many days students must be in school per year, typically around 180. Most schools build a few snow days / emergency days into their schedule, but it's usually a small number. Ditching snow days would avoid complications hitting the required day limit, or could potentially even allow school to end a week or more earlier in the summer.

2) Snow days as a morale-booster

On the other hand, kids love snow days. Just about everyone over 25 has fond memories of waking up, seeing ice everywhere, and immediately checking the news to see if school is canceled. These free days could be among the most memorable of a school year, something of a treasured tradition.

Taking those away from students would be removing one of the joys of childhood, and perhaps our children's lives are getting a bit too joyless already?

3) Can your teachers adapt?

One big issue surrounding snow days is that they're rarely predictable, unless you know a big storm is coming. In many cases, teachers would only receive a few hours' warning - at most - that they would have to switch to an online format. Not every in-person lesson can simply be moved online, and many would have to scramble to find something to do.

Or, let's be honest, they might just do some sort of filler lesson which wouldn't contribute much to the curriculum. So, it's not clear whether the learning quality would warrant avoiding the snow day.

4) Are your students prepared?

Another issue with online learning is that not everyone in the district may have the required hardware + software needed for it. Poorer families, in particular, may be on slow Internet connections or old hardware.

Even if they have the setup, there's no guarantee the videoconferencing software will work for everyone on a moment's notice. The first class of the day, in particular, is virtually guaranteed to be chaotic.

5) Do you have the setup to communicate all this?

Finally, there's the matter of getting word out. Do you have the communications setup necessary to inform every teacher and family of a sudden change of plans? Smartphone apps can relieve some of the burden, but getting every family on the same page will be a challenge.

In short, if a school wanted to replace snow days with online learning, there would need to be substantial preparations ahead of time. Both teachers and students would need to be prepped and ready for the possibility, which introduces new logistical challenges. Further, teachers would need to be able to provide quality online learning with very short warning.

If your district can do all that, replacing snow days with online learning could be viable. Otherwise, it's probably better to stick to the old ways.

BusBoss can't help manage your online learning - but we can ensure your bus routing software and bus tracking systems are optimized. Contact us to learn more!