Snow Days and Virtual Learning
Bobby Smith '22 Staff Writer
We may have gotten six more weeks of winter, but that doesn't change the fact that we're still stuck in school. Students are used to waking up on snow days to see the sky filled with clouds and the ground covered in snow. This would mean that they have a day off; they would have no school and the day all to themselves. If they got lucky, they would have multiple snow days. Now, with virtual learning, students can only look out at the snow from their windows as they are stuck at their desk attending virtual classes and doing assignments on Canvas.
On one hand, this can be seen as a good thing. When asked about his thoughts on the issue, Mr. Castro stated that he thought the change was beneficial because “decisions to go all virtual can be made earlier and give families the time to make any necessary adjustments,” and that “we would not need to extend the school year.” He mentioned that in the past the school year was extended due to snow days and that this made him and others unhappy. On the other hand, students feel that this could be unbeneficial. According to a poll posted on the Lion’s Tale Instagram page, students want there to be snow days. 77 students voted that there should be days off due to snow, while only 14 of them said that there shouldn’t be. The overwhelming majority seems to prefer having a day off from school when snow prevents them from physically going there, to go out in the snow or relax inside. A switch to virtual learning on snow days would certainly deprive them of this, so it is understandable that students would prefer to have a day off from school when it snows rather than be stuck at their computer doing schoolwork.
The temperature outside seems to be warming up, so it’s unlikely that we’ll get more snow until December. Due to schools becoming virtual, the typical opportunities students had for a snow day were missed. However, it is possible that this will be worth it, as we won’t have to worry about making up days in June. |
ELLICOTT CITY, MD, February 25th 2021 - A poll taken on Instagram where students can say whether or not they think school should be off on snow days. BOBBY SMITH/LION’S TALE
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