Could Snow Days No Longer Exist?
Snow days could be a thing of the past. There is a program that is being tested that may never allow for a snow day again and you guessed it, it's all because of the pandemic. Growing up, there was nothing like waking up to a ton of snow and waiting for the radio station to read the name of your school and that it was closed. Kids today may never know the excitement of having a snow day. The reason for the change is because of the coronavirus pandemic and how schools had to figure out how to teach students remotely.
According to CBS 6 News, there is a pilot program that the New York State Department of Education is developing that would utilize remote learning to take place of snow days. This way, no district would have to use a snow day to miss a day of learning. Flexibility would be given to school districts to have an education plan when there are snow emergencies.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced school districts to come up with remote learning plans in order to finish out last school year and start this one. With these new protocols and learning plans, the New York State Department of Education is doing this pilot program along the same lines. They feel that if the curriculum is in place to learn remotely, a snow day could actually be a day of learning but from home. Thus ending the snow days for some districts.
This is just a pilot program for the 2020-21 school year. They will re-evaluate the program at the end of this school year to see if the program could continue.