should students have homework on snow days

Snow Days May Never Be the Same

The availability of virtual learning means schools don’t necessarily need to shut down for the weather. But the loss of snow days is the loss of a source of joy for kids.

Snow days are uniquely beloved by kids in wintry climates. After a night of hoping, children earn a blissful surprise: a morning spent sleeping in and a day of playing outside. As Cindy Burau, a fourth-grade teacher in Lake Tahoe, California, put it: Snow days are “like gifts from the heavens that we all need: a sigh, a moment.” The pandemic has threatened this tradition. For students who attend school remotely every day, bad weather no longer affects their ability to attend class. And schools that have returned to in-person teaching or hybrid models likely still have remote-learning setups that they can turn to. With virtual school available as an alternative to canceling class, some schools have seen fit to put an end to the snow day as generations of children have known it.

On the one hand, students are falling months behind after losing classroom time because of COVID-19. (This is more likely to be the case for students of color and students living in low-income communities .) Some educators argue that students can’t afford to miss more school this year—even when it snows. On the other hand, kids love snow days, and many parents welcome even a short break from the daily grind of helping with Zoom classes. The products of a practical need to keep students at home during dangerous travel conditions, snow days’ primary purpose has become bringing children joy. The pandemic has taken so much away from kids, snow-day advocates say. Do we have to take this away too?

Erika Christakis: School wasn’t so great before COVID, either

But snow days were endangered even before COVID-19 hit. Over the past five years or so, some districts in Maine, Minnesota, Ohio, and other states have opted for students to work remotely when the weather has made travel dangerous. The coronavirus has accelerated this trend. Because of the pandemic, about 40 percent of school districts have replaced traditional snow days with remote-learning days, while only 20 percent have preserved the days off, according to a November survey from Education Week . (The remainder of those surveyed were either undecided or located in climates where school isn’t likely to be canceled for weather.)

Whether these schools are making a temporary decision for the duration of the pandemic or a more permanent change is still unclear. In the coming years, although climate change will likely affect U.S. snowfall patterns, schools in many regions will still need to deal with winter weather. And during true emergencies, such as the recent winter storm and resulting infrastructure disaster in Texas , even remote school will have to be canceled. But in less extreme cases, adjustments made for the pandemic have given schools more choices.

Cheryl Logan, the superintendent of Omaha Public Schools, had been quietly considering the possibility of holding classes remotely during snow days for several years. The pandemic sped up her plans: Her teachers grew accustomed to teaching virtually, and the school district provided her students with iPads that have mobile connections. Suddenly she had solutions for all the logistical hurdles that had held her back. In November, Logan announced that traditional snow days are gone forever in her district. Still, she was quick to correct us when we asked about the decision to permanently cancel them: “We don’t like to use the word cancel . We like to use repurpose .” She has chosen a hybrid model, in which students will sign on for a few hours in the morning and take the afternoon off. She’s mindful of children’s need to play and the nostalgia factor associated with snow days. “It makes complete sense that folks are yearning for anything that feels more like what we have been accustomed to,” she told us. But as an educator, she wants to ensure that inclement weather doesn’t lead to students falling too far behind in school.

Read: Why did we ever send sick kids to school?

For Jen Homann, a software engineer and parent to a third grader in Omaha, the decision has been slightly disappointing. Although her son is mostly back to in-person school, he requires help on remote snow days—because her husband has to go into the office, and she works from home, that burden falls largely on her. In districts such as hers that permanently replace snow days with online learning, parents will have to not only juggle their jobs and the logistics of child care when the weather keeps kids home, but also deal with remote school even after the pandemic ends.

This would add an extra burden to days that were already logistically complicated for many working parents. For example, Jenn Ragan, a mom in Lake Tahoe, owns a snow-removal business, so she’s always been busiest when it snows. “There’s more that goes into a snow day than just kids playing. Teachers, parents, everyone—they’re shoveling or blowing their driveways,” she told us.

But not all families are sad to lose traditional snow days. Melissa Siig, a mom of three kids in Lake Tahoe, told us that, during the pandemic, a snow day is “not as exciting and special as it used to be. It was almost like Christmas.” Many students have now spent almost a full year mostly stuck inside, and a snow day—once an excuse to stay home and relax—is not very different from a typical pandemic day. Siig’s daughter, Kaya, 14, said that her school sometimes adds days to the end of the year to compensate for snow days, so doing away with them could mean an earlier summer vacation.

Their district, which has partially returned to the classroom in a hybrid model, is responding to bad weather with both distance-learning days and traditional snow days, depending on how bad that weather is. During a big storm in January, Carmen Diaz Ghysels, the superintendent of the Tahoe Truckee Unified School District, called three snow days: the first two as distance learning, and the last a traditional one to accommodate teachers who had lost internet access. Ghysels is unsure whether the district will continue to have remote-learning “snow days” post-pandemic, since the state’s board of education has not announced whether distance learning is approved for the next school year. She’s also aware that many community members feel strongly about preserving the days off, and wants to hear from them before making a decision.

Other superintendents, such as Bondy Shay Gibson of Jefferson County Schools in West Virginia, are also attuned to their community’s feelings toward snow days. In December, Gibson canceled classes so that students could enjoy the first snow of the school year and take a break. In the future, however, Gibson told us, students may be asked to attend classes remotely on snowy days. “You have to have some balance,” she said. “We have huge expectations of kids these days, and every once in a while, you’ve just got to put grace before grades and let them enjoy being a kid, because it goes by pretty fast.”

Read: My child is near tears every day—and so am I

For many, including Gibson, saving a beloved tradition has turned out to be good press. On social media, thousands of people shared the letter Gibson wrote announcing the December day off, which declared that in a difficult year, “ this is one thing our kids won’t lose .” A superintendent in Indiana jokingly assigned students snowball fights as homework for their day off. The Mahwah school district in New Jersey announced that it would keep snow days to “ maintain the hope of children .” Campbell’s Soup made the effort corporate with a #SavetheSnowDay campaign. The company, which has partnered with Mahwah, aims to “preserve and protect our most magical of winter birthrights,” and, of course, peddle canned goods at the same time.

Before its campaign to save snow days, Mahwah had seriously considered canceling them, according to Lisa Rizzo, the district’s director of special services. But ultimately, those in favor of preserving them won out. Since then, the fervor for snow days (powered by social-media support) has grown, and Mahwah administrators have churned out impassioned pro–snow day videos and emails . “We will find a way to get to the math, get to the reading,” Dennis Fare, the assistant superintendent told us. Rizzo added, “Children have lost so many rites of passage. The first-day-of-school photograph at the bus stop was gone. Birthday parties are reduced to signs on your front lawn and friends driving by, honking horns. This is one place where we can maintain the integrity of childhood.”

Snow days are, of course, only a couple of days a year. But they represent so much more. Anticipating snow days is part of the fun, as children try to summon them with superstitions such as flushing ice cubes down the toilet, wearing their pajamas inside out, and sleeping with spoons under their pillows. They celebrate them by spending time outside, away from screens. Burau, the fourth-grade teacher, told us that snow days bring the whole community together: Kids go sledding, high schoolers dig cars out for extra cash, and parents take time to play in the snow too. If nothing else, snow days offer children a temporary break from the modern school culture of constant homework . During a year of loss, saving the snow day has come to represent protecting children from the harms of the pandemic—Zoom fatigue, grief, and monotony—and preserving moments of joy.

Are snow days about to get buried by remote learning? Not quite – but it depends on where you live

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Snow days, a nostalgic rite of passage for generations of students across the northern United States, might seem destined to be a memory of school days past. For nearly a century, schools have canceled or delayed classes because of heavy or dangerous snowfall that creates hazardous travel conditions. School calendars would include a number of “makeup” days, when any missed time could be rescheduled.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, schools transitioned to remote learning to keep teaching when it wasn’t safe for people to gather. With students already learning at home, nearly 40% of schools chose to forgo traditional snow days and proceed with remote learning during the pandemic. Those choices, and improvements in online education, led several commentators to predict the end of the snow day.

However, policy data collected from the 35 states with the highest average annual snowfall suggests that while more schools are using remote learning days instead of canceling classes, the traditional snow day is far from extinct.

Snow days seem to be sticking around, thanks to nostalgia, lingering concerns about the effectiveness and accessibility of online learning and a sentiment that families and children need these unscripted, unplugged breaks.

A new option becomes available

When schools close because of inclement weather, it affects students’ learning.

For instance, research in Colorado, Maryland and Virginia has shown that each additional inch of snow led to less continuity of learning, which in turn made it less likely that elementary school students would pass math assessments.

Even before the pandemic, 14 states had policies that allowed schools other options besides closing for inclement weather. Beginning in 2011, Kentucky , New Hampshire , Kansas, Missouri and West Virginia allowed students to work on preassembled packets that had been prepared and sent home instead of calling a snow day.

As technology improved, schools replaced take-home packets with online assignments and instruction.

In 2017, Minnesota authorized five e-learning days a year. Illinois followed suit in 2019 . In Pennsylvania, 85% of public school districts can take advantage of a 2019 policy that allows five days of remote instruction.

During the pandemic years, more schools got better at teaching online and saw opportunities to reduce school closings during winter storms. With nearly all states authorized on public health grounds to provide remote instruction during COVID-19, schools began doing so for inclement weather, too.

In 2022, the New York Board of Regents authorized the state’s public schools to teach remotely instead of canceling class on snow days. Days earlier, anticipating the decision, New York City Schools Chancellor David Banks announced : “If a snow day comes around, we want to make sure that our kids continue to learn,” adding, “so, sorry kids! No more snow days, but it’s gonna be good for you!”

Seven other states updated their laws to allow remote learning. For example, Maryland now allows up to eight days a year of remote learning – so long as five of those days include live sessions with a teacher – and Virginia’s new law allows 10 days.

By the start of the 2022-2023 school year, over three-quarters of snowy states had policies in place to significantly curtail school closures, keep students learning and prevent makeup days from stretching the school year into the summer. That’s up from half of them in the 2018-2019 school year.

For now: A wintry mix of snow days and remote learning

Within those states that allow remote learning for inclement weather, schools have actually followed three different patterns: full online transition, preserving traditional snow days or a combination of both.

Relatively few school systems – typically in metro areas like St. Paul or St. Louis – have followed New York City’s lead in announcing plans to move completely online during what would otherwise be snow days. There are also many school districts in very snowy locales – like New York’s snowiest district of Syracuse – that will not be using remote learning days.

However, the most common approach across the nation will be a mix of remote learning and snow days depending on local conditions. For example, in Baltimore , the superintendent announced that remote learning would be used under the new Maryland policy only “as a last resort” after the five makeup days in the calendar were exhausted. In West Virginia, schools will use a portion of their allotted nontraditional instruction days but reserve an “old-fashioned snow day” for students.

The nostalgic sentiment for preserving the snow day tradition was epitomized in a viral post from Jefferson County, West Virginia, Superintendent Bondy Shay Gibson, who declared on the first snow day of last year that school would be “closed for students … closed for virtual … closed for staff.” She said, “For generations, families have greeted the first snow day of the year with joy. … It is a time of renewed wonder at all the things that each season holds. A reminder of how fleeting a childhood can be. An opportunity to make memories with your family that you will hold onto for life.”

For many families this winter, the possibility of a snow day remains. When the first major storm of the 2022 winter season bore down on western New York with as much as 6 feet of snow, students in the region waited anxiously for pending school decisions: Buffalo Public Schools chose to shift to remote learning , but neighboring Niagara Falls canceled.

The day may well come when remote learning replaces snow days. But for now, children can continue with rituals to flush ice cubes down the toilet, wear pajamas inside-out and place spoons under their pillows – and hope not only for a snow day, but for a day without remote learning too.

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Will Schools Actually Ditch Snow Days for Virtual Learning? The Outlook Is Still Cloudy

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After the widespread pandemic-era use of virtual learning, rampant speculation began that schools would abandon traditional snow days and replace them with online classes.

For many districts, that’s been at least partially true, but it seems snow days are far from extinct.

In 2020, when COVID-19 pushed most schools across the country to shutter their buildings and switch to online classes, the need to shut down operations due to snow seemed to melt away. Students were already at home—eliminating the typical excuse that getting to school would be challenging or dangerous. They had laptops and tablets to do their work.

Even as buildings reopened and schools returned to more normal operations in 2021 and 2022, parents and community members speculated that the expectation to log on when snow hits would remain.

There’s no conclusive data about districts’ approaches to inclement weather in the 2022-23 school year. But in an EdWeek Research Center survey conducted in November 2020, 39 percent of principals and district leaders say their district had converted snow days to remote learning days, and another 32 percent said their districts were considering the change.

Now, many districts appear to be avoiding an all-or-nothing approach, instead opting to set a number of days that virtual instruction can be used in lieu of a snow day, or choosing whether to close or pivot online on a case-by-case basis.

Avoiding closures is appealing, superintendents say, but putting it into practice can be difficult.

Among the considerations: There’s more continuity in learning when students experience fewer unexpected interruptions, particularly important as students try to rebound from the academic blow of the pandemic. Often, when schools are forced to close, those days have to be made up later, which can spoil families’ summer plans. And the days tacked on to the end of the year generally aren’t as useful as normal school days either, so students get less out of them.

For those reasons, some districts—like in New York City , Green Bay Schools in Wisconsin, and the Salem district in Massachusetts—have scrapped snow days altogether.

In Virginia, state law may soon mandate the same approach. Republican Delegate Daniel Marshall III recently introduced a bill that would require districts to forego school closures for virtual learning.

Seattle schools’ policy is also to either delay classes two hours if there is bad weather, or to shift online for the day or days. The decision to avoid closures due to weather was made in response “to family and staff requests to avoid extending” the school year, according to the district’s website.

Schools are trying to maximize learning time post-pandemic

Other districts, like the District of Columbia school system, have decided to keep traditional snow days. It did so in part because major gaps remain in access to technology and the internet despite progress made during the pandemic; those gaps could exacerbate inequitable access to education if classes were to continue remotely.

In nearby Montgomery County, Md., district leaders this month decided to take inclement weather one storm at a time, rather than using a hard-and-fast rule about always switching to virtual classes or closing when bad weather strikes.

If the inclement weather is forecast well in advance and the district is able to give at least 24 hours’ notice to its 160,000 students’ families that schools will be closed, classes will move online rather than being canceled, Communications Director Chris Cram said.

In the day leading up to the closure, the district will work with community and advocacy groups, as well as school-based staff, to communicate the plan and make sure students have the equipment and materials they need for remote learning.

“What was difficult during the pandemic is that it was day after day, week after week of virtual learning, and that was difficult for many and learning loss occurred,” Cram said. “This is a stopgap to waste not a moment of the time we have. Because we may have 12 years with our students, but it’s only 180 days a year, six-and-a-half or seven hours a day. We must take every moment we can to ensure that learning happens.”

Remote learning instead of snow days isn’t a brand new concept

Some districts had made the transition to a more flexible approach even earlier.

Matt Hillmann, the superintendent of the district in Northfield, Minn., said his district began utilizing e-learning in 2019 after having 11 snow days the year prior.

The district still uses snow days—it is Minnesota, after all, and it’s part of the area’s culture, Hillmann said. But if weather forces closures for more than a day, it moves over to distance learning.

The Northfield district has found that incorporating lessons that include activities the youngest students enjoy doing, rather than sitting behind their laptop, has been beneficial. First graders, for example, might be asked to record themselves reading aloud to a stuffed animal or to write about themselves, underlining the nouns and verbs in their sentences.

Older students have more independent learning time, which has become a valuable life skill after the pandemic, Hillmann said.

“Remote work is becoming something that’s really common in a lot of workplaces,” he said. “So, I think we’re getting closer in that regard to mimicking what students will actually encounter in the workforce.”

Regardless, some parents have said they don’t think the remote learning days are sufficient, a perspective Hillmann said is “perfectly appropriate and understandable.”

But it is also sometimes rooted in the romantic idea that kids go to school and are engaged in rigorous coursework for six hours straight, Hillmann said. In fact, there’s also lunch and recess breaks, projects, socialization, and time to be creative and have fun, which are also important to students’ growth and success.

“The priority is absolutely to be in school as much as possible, but when you can’t be, e-learning is an option that we have to kind of bridge that gap,” Hillmann said. “It’s a way to try and make it up in real time.”

A version of this article appeared in the February 08, 2023 edition of Education Week as Will Schools Actually Ditch Snow Days for Virtual Learning?

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Why Virtual Learning Snow Days Are Bad For Everyone's Mental Health

"A snow day is a gift of time to slow down and have a break from schedules and school work for a day. It's a gift for all of us—parents, kids, and teachers."

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Most of us can probably remember the glorious feeling of finding out we had a snow day as children. Pajamas all morning! Sledding in the afternoon! Hot cocoa and movies galore! But for a lot of kids today, snow days aren't all fun and games—they also involve logging onto Zoom for school.

After the onset of COVID-19 in 2020, a reported seven in 10 schools had pivoted to some sort of distanced or virtual learning. And while the necessary public health restrictions of 2020 and 2021 are largely a thing of the past, the prevalence virtual learning has remained. Now, instead of a safety measure during an unparalleled pandemic, distanced learning is being used to replace the good old fashioned snow day. In an attempt to maximize learning in a “post-pandemic” era, school districts in numerous states have opted to replace snow days with virtual learning days. Citing the well-documented pandemic learning gap, the theory—allegedly—is that more days in the classroom will help make up for the learning lost during COVID-19. But for the already overworked, overwhelmed, and under-supported parents who are often left facilitating these virtual learning days—as well as the students battling a rise in depression, anxiety and feelings of isolation—losing the age-old snow day feels like the loss of so much more.

How Virtual Snow Days Are Affecting Real Parents

Just recently, I was left scrambling to figure out how I was going to make it through a full day of working from home as a journalist while simultaneously facilitating at-home e-learning for two children under 10. When a storm hit the east coast in February, New York City Public Schools announced that students would be going virtual instead of giving students, parents, and teachers a traditional snow day.

On the morning of my kids' day at home, the New York City Department of Education sent out an email announcing it was “experiencing technology issues system-wide” that was inhibiting students, parents and staff from logging on to Google Classroom. In a scenario eerily similar to the countless COVD-19 virtual learning days, I once again found myself frustrated, overwhelmed, and trying to calm two confused and anxious children while navigating the downsides of technology and communicating with editors, scheduling interviews, and answering emails.

And I'm far from alone. “We recently had a virtual learning day due to extreme snowfall and poor weather conditions,” Rachel, a single mother of three who lives in Eagle River, Alaska, tells me. “ My son is Autistic and has ADHD inattentive subtype, so he doesn’t do well with changes in routine. So when we have virtual learning days he truly doesn’t learn very much, because he has a hard time engaging over the computer. He can look like he is focused on learning...but he’s not.”

Alice Knisley Matthias, a single mom of two high school-aged children, tells me that "snow days are supposed to be magical for kids," but her reality is far from a fairy tale. She adds that there's always confusion around these structured virtual learning days, and that frustration extends to her kids.

What Research and Experts Say About Virtual Learning Instead of Snow Days

While some studies have shown virtual learning to be beneficial for students with disabilities or those who learn better in non-traditional classroom environments, others have pointed out ways in which online learning is harmful to students’ mental health, school satisfaction, and overall school performance.

Moreover, multiple studies have also shown that at-home e-learning only adds to the already unequal division of labor inside the home , as the majority of parents who are left facilitating their children’s virtual learning are moms. For moms who already take on most of the childcare and household responsibilities while working either inside or outside of the home, the added (and not to mention daunting) task of at-home virtual learning—if a family is privileged enough to have access to the internet and own a computer—is formidable at best.

“The added burden of a child being home and having to monitor their school is added work that moms don’t have the time for or the capacity,” says Jessi Gold, MD , a psychiatrist who specializes in student mental health at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.

“ Burnout is characterized , in part, by emotional exhaustion, and having to find the emotional energy to support your kid in virtual schooling when you are already on low reserve, would likely compound existing burnout,” she adds. “While both a snow day and virtual schooling would disrupt a parent's typical day, only virtual schooling would add the need for them to also somehow become a teacher, too.”

Shira Spiel, a licensed clinical psychologist who has a doctorate in psychology, agrees, adding that “a parent has to take off work for a snow day regardless—whether it be for day or to facilitate virtual learning—however, if children had the opportunity to enjoy the day off, families could take advantage of spontaneous time together.”

Similarly, Rachel says she’s “more stressed out” during the new, non-snow days because her son’s learning needs are not sufficiently met “over the computer.” 

“When I am stressed and focused on my son’s classes, that is the time I’m not focused on my daughters,” she adds. “Typical snow days are much easier to deal with because it gives my son a chance to play with his sisters and be a kid again.” And according to Spiel, the chance to “be a kid” is exactly how children learn .

“Over the recent years, schools have been cutting joyful and expressive breaks like snow days and recess, along with non-academic classes, like music and art,” Spiel tells me. “I don't believe that's the answer. Fundamentally, children's work is play.”

Where Do We Go From Here?

As a family with internet access, computers, and enough space to sufficiently keep my kindergarten and fourth grader apart while they talk to their computer screens, we made it through the first non-snow day of the 2023-2024 school year. My sons completed their work and attended Zoom class after over an hour of login attempts. And I managed to keep the silent cursing to something of a minimum, and turned in this very article 12 hours later.

But my sons did not get a chance to play in the snow. “There are so many conversations about the importance of mental health and kids,” Matthias says. “A snow day is a gift of time to slow down and have a break from schedules and school work for a day. It's a gift for all of us—parents, kids, and teachers.”

Matthias, like many parents, is disappointed to see that gift taken away.

U.S. Education in the Time of COVID . National Center for Education Statistics.

The pandemic has had devastating impacts on learning. What will it take to help students catch up? Brookings Institution.

NYC schools go remote Tuesday amid snow threat . WBNC New York.

Google Classroom down for NYC students during remote learning: DOE . PIX11 New York.

U.S. adolescents’ attitudes toward school, social connection, media use, and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: Differences as a function of gender identity and school context . PLoS ONE.

Learning in Online Environments: A New Reality for Students with Disabilities . Special Education Past, Present, and Future: Perspectives from the Field.

The extreme gendering of COVID-19: Household tasks and division of labour satisfaction during the pandemic . Can Rev Sociol.

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What Does Virtual Learning Mean For Snow Days?

Rebecca Smith

Even though many students are taking classes online, some schools are still embracing Snow Days, in part, so students can still enjoy the magic of an unexpected break.

NOEL KING, HOST:

What does online learning mean for what is arguably one of the best parts of childhood, the snow day? Some parents and administrators are wondering if it still makes sense to miss a day of class because of bad weather. Rebecca Smith with member station KBIA in Columbia, Mo., has been looking into it.

REBECCA SMITH, BYLINE: Keri Showers and her 8-year-old daughter Ava crowd into the frame of a Zoom window. The mantle behind them is covered with reindeer and silver trees. And our conversation begins like many nowadays, unintentionally on mute. They live in Columbia, Mo., where snow days still exist, even with virtual classes due to the pandemic. Ava's face lights up as Keri asks her her favorite snow day activities.

AVA: I like whenever we went sledding.

KERI SHOWERS: I think I enjoy snow days when I wouldn't have to go to work, and we could just stay inside and cuddle and sleep in if we knew in advance and just have a cozy time.

SMITH: Columbia Public Schools sent a message to families before Thanksgiving about possible snow days. It mentioned the joy and serendipity of an unexpected day off. Showers says she's torn. While she likes snow days, she feels like her three kids need as much class time as they can get.

SHOWERS: If we're all online like we are now, I don't understand why we would need to observe a snow day. I feel like they could make concessions for it. Like, the teachers could not go in that day, you know, and they could just do online from their homes.

SMITH: Craig Hounsom is the superintendent of Rolla Public Schools, a rural district about two hours south of Columbia that's also keeping snow days on the calendar. He says it's not an easy decision to make.

CRAIG HOUNSOM: We are a larger community but in a very rural area. And some of our staff that live out and about, the ability to do online education from home is questionable for a lot of them. So some staff would need to travel in to use our facilities and our network.

SMITH: He says snow days are about more than just getting people to school safely. The district recently shared a post on its Facebook page encouraging people - bake the cookies, grab the sleds and make some memories if a snow day occurs. And Hounsom says everyone - parents, students and staff - have been flexible with changes due to COVID. And he thinks they all could use a break.

HOUNSOM: It's a lot. Students are online now, you know, this year already, much more than they ever have been. And if we have a snow day and kids can get outside and enjoy being a kid, I don't think that's a negative. We think we'll make up the day, and instructionally, we'll be better off.

SMITH: But not everyone thinks that snow days makes sense in this year of online learning. Natalie Milman teaches educational technology at George Washington University. She says she gets the joy of snow days. In fact, when she brought up the idea of ending them, her own son asked, quote, "Are you mean?" But she says, as an educator, she worries about the disruption.

NATALIE MILMAN: I know of a school system in New Jersey that - they were very upfront about - they strongly believe in the snow day, and they want kids to continue playing in the snow and enjoying it. You know, I know for many it's a nostalgic kind of thing from their own childhood. Is it something that is absolutely necessary and needed? You know, I think we could argue no.

SMITH: Back in Columbia, the Showers family is doing the best it can with online learning. While Keri Showers says she's not sure how she feels about snow days right now, they do always have their boots, coats and sleds ready just in case.

For NPR News, I'm Rebecca Smith in Columbia.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DO YOU WANT TO BUILD A SNOWMAN")

UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS: (Singing) Do you want to build a snowman? Come on, let's go and play.

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David Zweig

In Defense of Snow Days

The New York City Department of Education recently announced that it would no longer be designating snow days as days off from school. Instead, students will be expected to take part in remote learning. In the subsequent reports and op-eds that abounded in major news outlets, a few voices were supportive of the policy change, but most were decidedly negative. Amy Joyce’s sentiment in the The Washington Post pretty well captures it: “What’s next? Broccoli on the ice cream truck? All-day adult swim?” My kids happen to like broccoli, but a vision of the landscape outside my windows blanketed by fresh snow, while sleds sit unused in the garage and my kids are indoors all day on Google Classroom could fill the opening panels of a bleak graphic novel.

Officials, careful not to be perceived as oblivious killjoys, acknowledged the loss. “We are sad for a year without snow days,” a press secretary for the DOE said . “But,” she continued, “we can leverage the technology we invested in during the pandemic so our students get the instructional days required by the state.” The latter half of the statement was troubling in what it reveals about the city’s, indeed much of the country’s, perceptions of education and its priorities.

While remote learning has its advantages, and may be the preferred and even optimal choice for some students, particularly those with certain disabilities, there is close to a consensus from educators and parents that in-person school is superior for nearly all students. Remote learning on a snow day also brings about many of the same inequity issues as remote learning in general—the kids without adequate technological tools are out of luck, as are those whose guardians must leave for work, not to mention the many students with attention issues or kids in the lowest grades who cannot stay focused on lesson plans delivered via Chromebook. If remote school isn’t school, why is it being treated as such?

Technological solutionism, a term popularized by Evegeny Morozov’s 2013 book To Save Everything Click Here, broadly describes our culture’s increasing penchant for assuming that all problems can be solved by technology. Seen through this frame, it’s not surprising that the DOE views snow days not as a rare reprieve for students from the drudgery of school, but as an obstacle that can be easily overcome by plunking kids in front of screens at home.

More importantly, this policy is merely an extension of the failed notion that remote learning would be a reasonable substitute for actual school over the past year in much of America. (The rest of the world understood that school takes place in a building, where children are in the physical presence of their peers and teachers.) This mindset reduces school to a purely academic endeavor, as if children’s brains are mere receptacles for data, agnostic about the ways in which that data is received. Moreover, it elides the notion that the real value of school is gained largely through the interpersonal relationships between students and teachers, and especially between peers. Those relationships that take place in physical space cannot be replicated on Zoom.

In the 1930s, the Polish-American philosopher Alfred Korzybski first wrote the maxim “The map is not the territory.” Korzybski was describing a truism that is both obvious yet often confused: The representation of something is not the actual thing. That’s not to say that maps, photographs, and other media aren’t useful, but they are not what they represent, even though they often are mistaken to be. Videos of crimes, for instance, are regularly perceived not as a representation but as literal verification of a crime. Yet for all the videos that prove guilt, just as many videos deceive—new footage emerges that shows the scene from a different angle or the period of time leading up to the event, placing the purported crime in a different context, exonerating the suspect.

Even if we intuitively know that virtual school isn’t the same as real school, in a culture where representations are mistaken for the original, remote learning becomes accepted. Perhaps Korzybski’s adage should be updated to say, “The computer is not the classroom.”

In 2014 New York state approved a $2 billion bond act for improving technology in schools. In February of this year, Governor Andrew Cuomo approved $60 million in technology expenditures for 72 school districts in the state, with $16.7 million, the second-largest line item, allocated for “school connectivity.” In my own tiny district, north of New York City, hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent on software programs and the like for remote learning, and one of this school year’s snow days, much to the chagrin of my kids, was declared a virtual learning day. It’s hard to not view some of these decisions through the lens of a sunk-cost fallacy.

Brian Barrett

Adrienne So

Stephen Clark, Ars Technica

A snow day embodies the opposite of sunk costs; it results from a cool appraisal of the present, and for a child this spontaneity engenders a sort of rationalist carpe diem. When I was in elementary school in the 1980s, there wasn’t a website to check or robocall system in our small New Jersey town to alert families if there was a snow day, nor was it mentioned on TV news. Instead, moms (it was generally only moms) had a phone chain—my mom would get the call from another mom, and then she had to make a call to the next mom on the list. It was a literal manifestation of the telephone game, yet the message was too succinct and obvious to muddy along the way. If the ground was covered white early in the morning and the phone rang, I knew it meant only one thing: glorious freedom.

I grabbed my red plastic toboggan and either sledded in our yard, which had a gentle slope from a wooded area into the open plain of the main yard, or I headed to my school, a 10-minute joyful trudge from my house. There, behind the building, was a massive hill leading to a field, affording hours of sledding. Often a dozen kids congregated there; though, oddly, just as often I was there alone, quietly in my own world, sometimes for hours, the only sounds my boots crunching in the snow and the sssshh of the sled racing down the hill. Eventually I’d make my way back home and enter through the basement, where, because of my temporary snow blindness, I’d disrobe in a disorienting near-darkness, despite the naked bulbs of the recessed lights. Upstairs, hot chocolate from a packet, with miniature marshmallows reanimated in the warm liquid, was savored.

The novelty of those days, of breaking the routine, of delighting in the outdoors and connecting with nature instead of sitting in a classroom, casts a wistful resonance all these years later. With a few details changed, my kids, now 10 and 12, have roughly mirrored this routine each winter themselves … until their canceled snow day earlier this school year. (Their schools were on a hybrid schedule at the time, so half the students weren’t missing an in-person day anyway. Though they all missed the day off.)

Even for the small minority of students who require or prefer remote learning, the value of a surprise snow holiday is still something to be embraced. The belief that eliminating a chance day off a few times a year will “catch kids up” on their studies, while preventing a spell of all-too-fleeting unstructured and often autonomous play, typifies why so many American students are overworked yet undereducated.

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Should Kids Have to Go to School Online on a Snow Day?

January 17, 2019.

For many kids, a snow day is cause for celebration. Instead of going to class, kids can have snowball fights or go sledding. But snow days are now a thing of the past in one South Carolina school district. Anderson School District 5 is the latest school district to replace snow days with classes online. Students use a computer to do assignments at home.

E-learning is meant to reduce the need for makeup days in the summer. But not everyone thinks this is necessary. How would you feel if your school replaced snow days with online learning? Here, two TIME for Kids readers share their views.

by Raunak Singh, 10

Fair Lawn, New Jersey

I think kids should go to school online on a snow day. When there is a blizzard or a heavy snowstorm, school is closed and kids have nothing to do but watch television and play video games. How boring! If students could attend school online on snow days, they would have something productive to do. On a snow day, parents would like to see their kids doing something other than lying around on the couch. With e-learning, kids would still get time to play in the snow, but they would also have something to do when they were stuck in the house. Attending school online lets kids learn new things while sitting at home on their comfy couch. E-learning on snow days would be a welcome change.

by Gabriela Quesada, 10

Miami, Florida

Kids need to go to school, but they should not have to go to school online on a snow day. During blizzards and snowstorms, many people lose power. Sometimes, you lose Internet access. If kids don’t have power, how are they going to use the computer? When I was small and lived in Spain, I experienced something similar. My dad wanted me to do online schoolwork on a snow day. But the power was out and there was no Internet, so I couldn’t. Even if there is Internet, the online assignments might be confusing for students. They might need help from teachers. On a snow day, kids and teachers should use the time to rest and enjoy the snow. In my opinion, going to school online on a snow day is not a wise thing to do.

The next debate: Is technology making us rude? Email your opinion to [email protected] . Your response might be featured in an upcoming issue.

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The effect of snow days on student performance

A new study finds keeping schools open during a storm is more detrimental to learning than a school closure.  

School administrators may want to be even more aggressive in calling for weather-related closures. A  new study  conducted by Harvard Kennedy School Assistant Professor  Joshua Goodman  finds that snow days do not impact student learning. In fact, he finds, keeping schools open during a storm is more detrimental to learning than a school closure.

The findings are "consistent with a model in which the central challenge of teaching is coordination of students," Goodman writes. "With slack time in the schedule, the time lost to closure can be regained. Student absences, however, force teachers to expend time getting students on the same page as their classmates."

Goodman, a former school teacher, began his study at the behest of the Massachusetts Department of Education, which wanted to know more about the impact of snow days on student achievement. He examined reams of data in grades three-through-ten from 2003-2010. One conclusion—that snow days are less detrimental to student performance than other absences—can be explained by the fact that school districts typically plan for weather-related disruptions and tack on extra days in the schedule to compensate. They do not, however, typically schedule make-up days for other student absences.

The lesson for administrators might be considered somewhat counterintuitive. "They need to consider the downside when deciding not to declare a snow day during a storm—the fact that many kids will miss school regardless either because of transportation issues or parental discretion. And because those absences typically aren't made up in the school calendar, those kids can fall behind."

Joshua S. Goodman, assistant professor of public policy, teaches empirical methods and the economics of education. His research interests include labor and public economics, with a particular focus on education policy.

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The Parents Taking a Snow Day Anyway

It’s a historic day in New York City, and not just because at least half a foot of snow is expected to fall for the first time in two years . Almost one million public-school students were instructed to log into Zoom or Google Classroom between 8 and 9 a.m. for the debut of remote learning, snow-day edition. When asked to forecast today’s attendance, Nathaniel Styer, the NYC Department of Education press secretary, said in a statement, “Standard attendance rules apply, and we look forward to having all our students engage in remote learning tomorrow.” That hasn’t been going very well, as a network outage stymied thousands of parents trying to log on early this morning, and some teachers reportedly told parents to forget it and enjoy the snow.

But for many kids, it isn’t just the tech outage that’s getting in the way of schoolwork. The pandemic showed us that a child’s remote-learning experience depends on many factors : access to a stable internet connection and a working device, having a tech-literate parent with the flexibility to stay home, their grade level, and the school subject, to name just a few. But remote attendance on a snow day hangs on yet another consideration: whether a student’s parents would rather take their kids to play in the park. In a press conference yesterday, Mayor Eric Adams said, “We need to minimize how many days our children are just sitting at home making snowmen.” But I chatted with over a dozen public-school parents yesterday afternoon and found many who planned to do just that.

“I just think it’s some bullshit,” said Lauren, a parent with a fifth-grader and eighth-grader attending public schools in Washington Heights and East Harlem. “Just give them the day off. The way our weather is trending with climate change, this is not going to be an every-week kind of thing.”

“I kind of hate sledding, and even I would like to go sledding,” said Elizabeth, a mother who has three kids — one in kindergarten and two in middle school — on the Upper West Side. For Elizabeth and other parents, the remote-learning decision brings back painful memories of the pandemic year her kids spent stuck in their apartment. When she heard the news, she says she “immediately felt a pit in my stomach over the thought of multiple children on Zoom screens.” Still, she plans to have her kids attend “school” and then go sledding in Central Park before the sun sets. In South Slope, Hana was also stressed about how her four kids would manage. “It’s so hard in a small New York City apartment, logging them in at the same time, making sure the internet connection is good, and finding a quiet space for each child,” she said. “Why can’t they just be kids and go out and enjoy the snow?” Still, she doesn’t want to waste an absence on a day that her kids aren’t sick. Her kids will be in Zoom school until it’s over.

But some do plan to game the system, at least a little. Eva M., the parent of a kindergartener in a Lower East Side public school, plans to opt out of remote learning shortly after morning attendance. She wrote to me late last night, “I feel HEARTBROKEN that my child will never know the joy of watching the local news chyron to see if he gets to stay home and go sledding. We’re going to enjoy this little bit of winter while we can.”

In Carroll Gardens, Michelle says she doesn’t want to disrespect her second-grader’s teacher, who spent time planning a lesson. But she doesn’t want to miss the snow. She says the parents in her class WhatsApp group were fretting all day yesterday about the remote-learning requirements and had planned in-person learning pods to help share the supervision load. They also made plans to meet in Prospect Park for sledding during their lunch period. Michelle herself planned to log in her child at 9 a.m. to be counted for attendance, and then enjoy the day off with her kid.

Late last night, I finally heard from a snow-day naysayer. “This was absolutely the most responsible approach,” Liza said. She has two daughters at a public elementary school in Chelsea, and her husband is a public-school teacher. “I think the idea of a real snow day is somewhat privileged and not the reality for many New York City kids. Many kids can’t actually experience a proper snow day — they live too far from a park or their caretakers have to work.” And Sara, a mother on the Upper East Side, told me she was surprised to find that while watching her three young kids navigate remote learning this morning was a hassle, it also gave her a new and important vantage into her kids’ classrooms. One of her children has been complaining about an in-school bully, and this morning Sara watched that child leave an inappropriate and unkind comment in the classroom chat. “I’m glad that it illuminated behaviors and literally documented them so I can address them with the teacher,” she said.

Many parents were worried about the burden remote learning placed on teachers, especially those with school-age children at home who would need assistance with their own Zoom classrooms. When I pressed the Department of Education on how it would support teachers who had child-care duties today, it didn’t respond.

Amanda teaches high-school music in Manhattan and presumes that at some point today, her two children — ages 1 and 3 — will join her onscreen. Perhaps because it’s just for the day, she sees the inevitable interruption as an upside: “There is a sense of transparency when the students see their teachers as real people that deal with the same struggles as their own mothers and fathers,” she says. But she also acknowledges that her students could have used the day off. “I do feel that the kids are missing out on a traditional snow day,” she says. “There is nothing that can’t be taught the next day.”

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Should schools still have “snow days”?

You decide, puzzle games.

Ever since COVID, schools hypothetically know how to function remotely now. This hypothetical change has led many districts such as New York City to  declare  that they will no longer give students the day off even for snow emergencies.

Should students still have to learn when it snows hard? To see the top arguments on both sides, check out the maps linked below or the puzzles linked above!

Discussion Questions

1) Do snow days benefit or hurt students more in the long run? Why? (Consider the effects pro/con on students’ physical health, mental health, and learning.)

2) How much does the opinion of teachers matter in this conversation? How about the opinion of parents? Whose voice should matter the most, and why?

3) What is the best snow day activity and why?

(For teaching resources to improve classroom discussions, check out our Teachers Pay Teachers page!)

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7 Practical Reasons that Snow Days Are Essential

Pledge to snow day in 2020.

For decades, waking up to a fresh sheet of snow and an unexpected day off was not only exhilarating and a tradition, but also essential for mental health to catch up on sleep, homework, grading, and spend a loving day with family. Some school boards are considering trading snow days for remote classes… permanently. Let them hear your voice that snow days are more than a tradition, but essential for teachers, parents, and students who have already given up so much in this difficult year.

Snow Day Calculator has been sharing the magic of snow days with our community for over 13 years. We cannot let the snow day disappear without having our voice heard so we have organized a nationwide petition in support of snow days. Sign your name below and #PledgeToSnowDay and tell your school district and state that #SnowDaysAreEssential .

We know its not snowing yet – but school boards are talking about these issues NOW . Make your voice heard.

Practical Reasons that Snow Days are Essential

It’s easy to get caught up in the emotional aspects of snow days (and there are many both nostalgic and sentimental) but there are several practical reasons why snow days are essential especially during this unprecedented pandemic.

• Universal stress relief — school is stressful. Grading, projects, sports, activites, lesson planning, homework. Not one person (teachers or students) has been on top of EVERYTHING they needed to do every single day. When stress mounts, it gets even harder to buckle down and get things done. Studies have shown that taking even a small amount of time away from a stressful routine pays off in droves by increasing engagement, learning, creativity, and overall mental health.

The benefit of an unexpected day off is that there is really nothing planned and all there is left to do is relax, recharge, and collectively catch our breath and catch up on work.

• In-person learning is better — Don’t take our word for this one, schools across the country are finding that not all students have responded well to remote learning and many more students are failing . Many districts have accelerated plans to safely provide hybrid or in-person options for students. Forcing a remote learning day on students in the event of snow may feel pragmatic, but in reality it’s a step backward.

Instead of cramming in an ineffective remote learning day during a snowstorm just to meet a quota, perhaps we should consider a day of outdoor in-person classes (at social distance) in the spring instead!

• Screen time overload — Remote learning was a practical tradeoff we had to make during the pandemic, but it doesn’t come without some serious costs. This study being conducted by the National Institute of Health has shown early signs that “screen-time” for younger students has detrimental effects on (1) creativity and exploration, (2) social skill and language development, and (3) critical thinking and problem solving.

My 5-year old is rebelling against zoom school by mouthing words instead of speaking so as to make her teacher think there’s something wrong with the unmuting function — Spencer Ackerman (@attackerman) October 15, 2020

• Physical activity — Snow Days are known for being a day that every student, with no scheduled classes, activities, homework, etc. wakes up to a magical fresh sheet of snow and runs outside to play – making snow forts, having snowball fights, building snowmen. The pandemic has shuttered traditional activities like PE class and many team sports . A day off to run around in the snow (with face coverings that were obligatory even before the pandemic) seems not only practical but essential for physical health when we are otherwise tied to our computer screens.
• Even while students may continue to learn from home, many teachers have been expected to work from school – to support in-person and hybrid classes, to have better access to materials (like whiteboards), and a better more stable connection on multiple computers. That means they may need to make the morning snowy commute to their setups.
• Snow days are by their nature, unexpected. Setting up the same infrastructure at home on short notice (overnight) is not only unfair but sometimes impossible. Couple that with having to amend a lesson plan for a fully remote school day and it’s clear it’s not destined to run smoothly.
• If something is destined to be done hurriedly and with compromises, its best to take a step back and plan something better.

In-person or remote: we are ALL learning together! These students are amazing! pic.twitter.com/A7AkYAXF3H — Mrs. Stanhope (@StanhopeMrs) October 14, 2020

• Logistics for parents — any regular snow day in a prior year was already a logistical hurdle to make sure kids had supervision on short notice. With the pandemic, when remote learning became the norm, everyone experienced the difficulty of keeping students engaged and academically on track – some parents even had to work from home at the same time! If students are forced to be home, already resenting the loss of the tradition of snow days, it may be even harder to keep the fragile situation. A day of snow day games, playing outside in the snow, hot chocolate, etc. is a much more appealing day at home.
• Tradition — this one might not appear as practical as the rest, but there is every reason not to ignore the magic and tradition of snow days. Not only has Snow Day Calculator gotten to share in the collective anticipation (waiting, wishing, asking, surprise) of an unexpected day off, but the magic and wonder far predates us – snow days are a tradition filled with rituals, superstitions, and are a day for families to create memories and spend time together and a time for parents to share with their children.

Amid a chaotic year that has taken so much away from us, we should make it a priority to preserve snow days. This NJ Superintendent has already made that commitment “as long as he is in charge” he will #PledgeToSnowDay because snow days are “a miracle of childhood.”

Have more reasons? Share them with us on Facebook , Twitter or contact us .

Our Petition and Proposal

• Sign our petition – we want to be able to share your voice with your school districts and state school boards
• Share this article and trend our hashtags #PledgeToSnowDay #SnowDaysAreEssential to increase visibility
• Put us in contact with the decision makers in your communities, those can be school boards, boards of education, or superintendents – we will be reaching out to everyone

Our proposal is simple: schools doing any form of in-person/hybrid instruction (including schools where just teachers access the school buildings) should continue to call snow days as they would in any other school year. Many have built these snow days into the academic calendar. It will give all our amazing teachers, students, and parents some normalcy in this chaotic year, let us take a collective breath to spend time with each other, and allow us to regain the sense of community this pandemic has threatened.

If you have comments or questions, or want to provide much needed news coverage, tweet us @ SnowDayCalc with the hashtag #SnowDaysAreEssential or fill out our contact form .

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New York City schools went online instead of calling a snow day. It didn’t go well

New York City’s plan to have students go remote instead of a snow day didn’t go quite as planned. Many students, teachers and administrators were unable to log in to their accounts. City officials blamed on a technology contractor. (Feb. 13) (AP Video: Joseph B. Frederick)

A woman plays with a child that is sledding in New York’s Central Park Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024. Technology glitches kept many New York City teachers and students from virtual classes Tuesday — the first attempt by the country’s largest school system to switch to remote learning for a snow storm since the COVID-19 pandemic. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

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A person works to clear wet and heavy snow from a sidewalk during a winter storm in Philadelphia, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

NEW YORK (AP) — When New York City officials got wind of the major winter storm headed their way, they rewound the clock four years, reopened their coronavirus pandemic playbook, and announced that instead of canceling school, teachers and students would once again meet online. No snow day.

Mayor Eric Adams said it was important to give children enrolled in the nation’s largest school system stability considering the massive upheaval to education the pandemic had caused throughout the country. Some school districts in other states have done the same since adopting the technology essential in 2020 to make virtual school days possible.

Unfortunately for Adams, the plan didn’t go so well: Many students, teachers and administrators were unable to log in to their accounts — a problem that city officials blamed on a technology contractor.

Naveed Hasan, a Manhattan resident, said he struggled to get his 4-year-old daughter logged on because of the district’s technical issues even though his 9-year-old son was able to gain access. He hoped to take both out for sledding later in the day.

“It honestly worked out for the best,” Hasan said. “I’d rather not have the youngest on a device all day anyways.”

Schools nationwide shuttered classrooms for the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, and some did not reopen fully for more than a year. Some children barely logged on , and many struggled with the social isolation.

The months spent with online education were marked by widespread learning losses . Young students often struggled with the technology, and some parents said online learning was a factor in their decision to delay enrolling their kids .

In a November 2020 survey conducted by the EdWeek Research Center, 39% of district leaders said they had converted snow days to remote learning. Another 32% said they would consider the change. But in recent years, some districts, including Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia, have reverted to prepandemic snow day policies. School systems in Boston and Hartford, Connecticut, among many others, closed in response to Tuesday’s storm.

Connecticut does not allow remote learning on a snow day to count toward the minimum 180 learning days in the school calendar. The state weighed factors such as the challenges of setting up remote classrooms on short notice, and local officials also reported that parents and students wanted traditional snow days, said Irene Parizi, chief academic officer for the state Department of Education.

“Let them have their snow day and go sledding and have their hot chocolate and things like that,” Parizi said.

With schools closed in Columbia, Connecticut, Susan Smith spent the day at home with her three children, ages 14, 11 and 8. She said she likes traditional snow days, but would also like to see remote learning on some bad weather days.

“I still remember being a kid and really looking forward to snow days, so I don’t want to completely wipe that off the map with remote learning,” Smith said.

Adams defended the decision to have NYC schools operate virtually.

“Using this as a teaching moment to have our children learn how to continue the expansion of remote learning is so important,” the mayor said in an interview on WPIX-TV Monday evening. “We fell back in education because of COVID. We cannot afford our young people to miss school days.”

Gina Cirrito, a parent on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, said she appreciated the structure the remote classes provided for her three sons, even if Tuesday morning was a bit of rough sledding in her household.

“I know people around the country get really frustrated with the idea of these remote days and not just letting the kids have a day,” she said. “But I don’t think the teachers are asking above and beyond and to be honest, they’re so far behind. If there’s a way to keep their (students’) brains a little engaged, I’m all for it.”

Cirrito said the family had to work through some early morning logistics, including making sure everyone had a functioning computer and a quiet spot in the apartment to work — only to run into the district’s login issues.

By about 9:15 a.m. her sons — ages 10, 13 and 17 — had settled into the day’s routine.

“For the kids, it’s like riding a bike. Like, ‘Here we go again,’” Cirrito said.

New York City officials did not say how many students were prevented from accessing online classes but they blamed the problem on their technology contractor, IBM. While both teachers and students recently participated in simulations to prepare for remote instruction, IBM was not involved in those walk-throughs, officials said at a news conference.

“IBM was not ready for prime time. That’s what happened here,” said New York City Schools Chancellor David Banks.

In a statement, IBM said it had been “working closely with New York City schools to address this situation as quickly as possible.”

“The issues have been largely resolved, and we regret the inconvenience to students and parents across the city,” the statement read.

The morning technical glitches only added to the stress for teachers already scrambling to pivot lessons and assignments to remote work, said Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, which represents roughly 200,000 NYC public schools teachers and staff.

But Mulgrew said educators anticipated trouble after their experience with distance learning during the pandemic. He noted that by 12:30 p.m., 900,000 students and teachers were utilizing the district’s remote learning system — a testament, he said, to how teachers were able to keep their classes engaged despite the morning challenges.

“It’s also a good lesson for students,” he said. “This is what happens when things go wrong. You don’t get frustrated or angry. You got to figure it out.”

Mulgrew added that this year’s school calendar only allows for one or so snow days, “so you want to save that, just in case.”

Still, Hasan, a software developer, wondered whether students and teachers alike would have been better served with a snow day, even as he acknowledged Tuesday’s accumulations in the city might not have warranted it in a bygone era.

“It’s like a mental health day for kids to just go and play,” he said. “It’s already enough of a challenge for parents to figure out how they are going to do their work.”

Ma reported from Washington, D.C. Associated Press writer Jake Offenhartz in New York and Pat Eaton-Robb in Columbia, Connecticut, contributed to this report.

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org .

The Providential

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Should Snow Days Be Virtual Days?

Sara Mishkind , Staff Writer March 3, 2021

As many students have realized, it’s snowed a lot this year. There seems to be a weather warning every week. What students also know is that snow days this year are all virtual at NPHS. The similarities between virtual days and snow days are seemingly uncanny, but if you looked a little closer, you would notice that virtual learning days and virtual snow days are not the same thing. 

In theory, doing virtual learning as opposed to getting the day off would seem like a win-win. Kids get to learn and the extra snow days are added into the breaks. Seems fair enough, right? However, even though having virtual learning for snow days seems like an equal trade, it’s not.

Virtual learning in itself is flawed. There are many distractions at home, and technology issues can affect students’ ability to learn. We know that, that’s why NPHS has decided to use a hybrid learning schedule. This way students can get a fuller education while also being safe during the pandemic. When it’s all virtual, however, both A and B days are not getting a full learning experience. This in itself doesn’t really affect a student’s education, but all these virtual days can negatively affect students’ mental health.

I wouldn’t put it so far as to say that having no snow days devastates students, however, snow days were once a long coveted break kids got from the day to day. It was an amazing and unique experience to wake up, look outside your window, and realize it was snowing. For five days a week, every kid gets up, goes to school, goes home, and does homework. It was nice to wake up and not have anything to do. Furthermore, playing in the snow on a snow day was a staple in most students’ lives, but with virtual learning, you’re stuck staring at the snow from inside the house until dismissal. I’ve woken up with the blinds down, and didn’t realize it was snowing until at least the fourth period. It feels like the disruption of a sacred tradition, and it takes a little bit of magic out of winter.

  Snow days should be snow days: days in which kids can relax and have fun playing in the snow while it lasts. School days should be school days: days in which students can learn without having technological issues or distractions (such as snow that you can’t jump in) keeping them from learning to their full potential. Seeing as there is still a cache of snow days in case the wifi or power cuts out, it makes more sense to use them on snow days instead of adding them to breaks.

It’s ironic how the one year we get snow after snow after snow, we no longer have snow days. While this may be sad considering that many towns around us are getting days off, let’s try to be positive about this. At least now we don’t have to worry about losing days off break.

For more information:

https://www.edweek.org/leadership/no-more-snow-days-thanks-to-remote-learning-not-everyone-agrees/2020/11 \

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/11/24/snow-days-distance-learning/  

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The end of snow days? Online learning is to blame

Loss is a 'bummer,' ontario kid says.

A move to cancel snow days in favour of online learning is putting the freeze on winter fun for some Canadian kids.

Best friends Lauren Letts and Healey Stirling from Waterloo, Ontario, told CBC Kids News their first snow day of the year was a major disappointment.

That’s because a new rule says they need to do assignments from home on storm days.

Instead of frolicking in the snow all day, drinking hot chocolate and watching movies on Dec. 1, the 12-year-olds had to work on a book report.

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It was “kind of a bummer,” Lauren said.

“A lot of kids look forward to snow days,” said the Grade 7 student from Our Lady of Lourdes, and “they just took that away from us.”

The cancellation of snow days could become a reality across the country as school staff take advantage of virtual learning plans designed to help kids learn from home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Healey, left, and Lauren, right, used to do a complex ritual involving pyjamas, tooth brushing and pillows when they were hoping for a snow day. Now they say there’s no point. (Image submitted by Angela Letts)

What does a snow day look like in Waterloo?

On Nov. 18, the Waterloo Catholic District School Board announced the launch of Weather Impacted Distance Learning Days on storm days when buses are cancelled and school buildings are closed.

The Waterloo Region District School Board did the same.

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Going forward, students won’t necessarily be logging into virtual classroom sessions on those days, but they are expected to work on assignments.

Teachers are also expected to be available to help.

No more wacky snow day rituals

Healey and Lauren used to do a little ritual when the forecast was stormy to try and make a snow day happen.

They’d put their pyjamas on inside out and backwards, brush their teeth with the opposite hand and sleep with spoons under their pillows.

Lauren left, and Healey, right, had to do school online for the last few weeks of Grade 6 when their school was closed because of COVID-19 restrictions. They said they didn’t learn as much and it wasn’t as fun as doing school in person. (Image submitted by Angela Letts)

Now they say they won’t bother.

What’s the point of staying at home, Healey asked, if we have to do virtual lessons? “We’d rather just go to school so we can see our friends.”

Why cancel snow days?

The point, according to the board’s chief managing officer John P. Shewchuk, is to give students a safe learning environment.

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Usually classes are combined on snow days to make sure students who do show up at school have proper supervision, but that wouldn’t be possible this year due to COVID-19 restrictions, he said.

This way “students are still able to access learning” on snow days, without putting their safety at risk, Shewchuk said.

Other Ontario schools jumping on the trend

Other school boards in Ontario appear to be following Waterloo’s example.

Greater Essex County District School Board in Windsor, Ontario, for example, announced on Nov. 27 that high school students would have to start doing full days of remote learning on snow days.

Missing a day of school is “challenging” for kids in that age group, said Shelley Armstrong, the superintendent of business and treasurer for the board, when asked about the change.

A number of other school boards in the Greater Toronto Area, including Peel, York and Durham, are also testing out a new approach to snow days.

What about elsewhere in Canada?

CBC Kids News reached out to schools in snowy places to see if the rise in virtual learning could mean the end of snow day fun everywhere.

In the Newfoundland and Labrador English School District, snow days haven’t been cancelled — yet.

Spokesperson Cheryl Gullage said in an email that “all options are being considered,” given the “significant investments” made to get virtual learning up and running in that district.

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A similar policy change wouldn’t happen in a place like Winnipeg, given that there are no snow days there to cancel.

“Our schools are always open,” said Radean Carter, a spokesperson for the Winnipeg School Division.

A message for other Canadian kids

Lauren and Healey said in the end, they probably only did about an hour or two of school work on their first snow day under the new policy.

Even though “it wasn’t an insane amount of work,” Lauren said, “I wasn’t thrilled to be doing work on the snow day.”

The girls had this message for Canadian kids who still get to play all day when schools are snowed in.

Don’t “take it for granted and be bored all day,” Healey said.

With files from CBC Windsor

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Should Learning Stop on Snow Days?

Many adults have fond memories of snow days as a time when they could stay home from school and get the chance to play and frolic in the snow with siblings and friends. For most kids, waiting in the morning to hear about the school closures while still in pajamas, hoping to hear the name of their own school, was a snow day ritual.

Today’s youngsters undoubtedly feel much the same way, but parents now know that a snow day isn’t just a day of fun for the kids, but also a lost learning opportunity.

The Problem with Snow Days

A snow day here and there may not be much of a concern, but too many snow days actually causes problems for students, parents, and teachers. If both parents work, then a child staying home from school can present an issue. Additionally, schools need to administer a specific amount of days of schooling each year, and that time off must be made up elsewhere if there are too many snow days, often during what should have been vacation breaks or at the end of the school year. Again, this can also affect the plans of parents.

Teachers too are affected, whether it’s interruptions to their lesson plans or the extra burden of trying to make up the lost time so that children have the knowledge they need to adequately prepare for state-mandated tests scheduled on a specific date.

Combating the Loss of Learning

Recently, several schools have addressed the problem of numerous snow days by instituting a novel new program to avoid the disruption of learning. Called cyber snow days or at-home learning days , it involves teaching children while they are at home—by either providing them with materials to read or assignments to complete before the day off or via online video and communication.

Other schools have adopted similar concepts with different names. But the purpose remains the same: to ensure students receive the learning they need despite being home from school.

How Parents Can Help

Even if a child’s school does not yet have its own version of at-home learning days, parents can still help ensure that the time off is not spent entirely on snowballs and sledding. They can take the time to work with their children on a project or help them review subjects that they might be having trouble in. Speaking to the child’s teacher about assignments and homework in advance of snow days may also be helpful.

The Future of Snow Days

In this age of digital technology and online collaboration , will snow days become a thing of past? So far, it depends on the school. But schools that have implemented these cyber learning days, or “e-learning bundles” as teachers in Indiana call it, are finding it helpful. “The main thing that we noticed last year is that those days we had to miss due to the weather were really important to us,” a principal at Triton Middle School told the IndyStar newspaper . “Those were the crucial time to prepare students for standardized assessments.” So far the school reports positive feedback on their program to turn snow days into learning days. Through the use of collaboration and technology, at-home learning days are a great opportunity for children to stay on track. Of course, students in online schools have been enjoying the benefits of consistent learning even on snow days for years. If you think learning and collaborating online may benefit your student, visit K12.com to learn more about virtual public school s.

What do you think? Should snow days become learning days?

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Why Getting Rid of Snow Days Is a Big Mistake

Snow days are about more than just a day off.

When the severe weather alert flashes on the television screen and across the top of the Weather Channel app in February, every kid starts praying that the weather gets worse. They set their alarms for 5 a.m., hoping that when they look at their phone or computer screen they see their school among those on the snow day list. Anyone who grew up in the North knows the sheer joy that comes from an unexpected winter day off from school. Whether that means sleeping in, meeting friends at the park with sled in tow, or just a day off from schoolwork, snow days are a rare treat and a special part of school culture in the United States. In the dark, short days of winter, it’s these days that often give a boost to students—and teachers—as they wait for spring.

Anderson County School District 5, in South Carolina, announced this week that they would be getting rid of snow days and replacing them with “eLearning days.” Instead of having the day off, students would spend their day at their laptops completing schoolwork assigned that morning. This announcement likely sends a cold chill (no pun intended) through all students across cold-weather states. They wonder: Could their district be next? Anderson’s superintendent, Tom Wilson, describes this decision as making “good sense” and explains that snow days are a waste of time and resources. Wilson cites that schools have to make up the days in the summer. On snow days, staff and students have an unproductive day at home. But now, thanks to technology, kids no longer have to waste a day because of inclement weather. However, the question is: What if snow days aren’t a waste?

As well-intentioned as replacing snow days with “eLearning days” is, this school district might be underestimating the value of this day off from school. Of course, there is the expense of extending the school year and students missing a day of instruction. But most educators, and all students, can speak to the value of that unscheduled day away from classrooms. School districts need to consider a few things before abolishing the snow day.

Snow days provide a much-needed break.

Educators know the work involved with teaching and leading during the winter months . Kids are lethargic from the lack of vitamin D. The promise of rest during spring break seems like an eternity away. Standardized tests loom, and the work this time of year is often more difficult and strenuous. Snow days give a break from this. They provide a morale boost that only a day off can give. Derek Boillat, a teacher in Michigan, said, “When our district doesn’t give a snow day on days we probably should have had one, you can feel the angst among the staff and students. Teaching in these months is long and hard, and sometimes you just need a day to recharge.”

The benefits of this boost can be hard to quantify, and therefore difficult to justify, but ask any educator, and they can speak to a change in energy in their students the day following a snow day. This energy increases engagement. Engagement, of course, leads to more successful learning.

Not all kids have access to the Internet at home.

Yes, all kids might have a laptop in this school district, but not all have Internet access. If a snow day is declared at 5 a.m., students will have to access their schoolwork through the Internet. Many students don’t have Internet at home, so they would not be able to complete the assigned work. Anderson’s superintendent says the school will allow students without Internet access five days to complete eLearning assignments.

This sends the message that the work is obviously not that important. If that wasn’t the case, students would need to finish the work that day. It also creates a real inequity. Schools should not punish kids because of their lack of access. By assigning them work on top of the work already expected of them once they return to school, the district is putting them at further disadvantage because of circumstances outside of their control.

“eLearning days” really means “busy-work days.”

As described, eLearning days seem to really just be days filled with busy work. Anything assigned so quickly, without any instruction or guidance, will probably not be that meaningful. This type of assignment basically says that the job of an educator is to assign work. In reality, well-thought-out and engaging instruction is the predecessor of meaningful assignments. Assignments created on the morning of a snow day that require no instruction will likely be rushed and low quality. It is likely that teachers will have to create assignments in anticipation of a snow day. Therefore the work students have to complete will be out of sequence and probably something just to keep them busy. On top of this, teachers will have yet another task, outside of the work they are already doing, to complete.

So let’s be honest, if students are just doing busy work, is the time really well spent? Does the process value teachers’ time? Is it not more of a waste to put students in front of a screen on their day away from school than to allow them the freedom to explore independently?

No one wants to tack on extra days in the summer because of a snowstorm in February. However, these extra days are worth it. They’re worth preserving a part of school culture. They create a break in the winter everyone in the school system can use. And, if you polled most students and educators, you’ll likely hear that they have no problem with it.

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What Students Are Saying About Why School Absences Have ‘Exploded’

Chronic absenteeism has increased in American schools since the Covid-19 pandemic. We asked teenagers what they make of the trend.

By The Learning Network

Nationally, an estimated 26 percent of public school students were considered chronically absent last school year, up from 15 percent before the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the most recent data, from 40 states and Washington, D.C., compiled by the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute.

The increases have occurred in districts big and small, and across income and race.

In “​ Why School Absences Have ‘Exploded’ Almost Everywhere ,” Sarah Mervosh and Francesca Paris explain:

The trends suggest that something fundamental has shifted in American childhood and the culture of school, in ways that may be long lasting. What was once a deeply ingrained habit — wake up, catch the bus, report to class — is now something far more tenuous. “Our relationship with school became optional,” said Katie Rosanbalm, a psychologist and associate research professor with the Center for Child and Family Policy at Duke University.

In a related Student Opinion question , we asked teenagers if that explanation resonated with them. Had their relationship to school — and school attendance — changed since the pandemic? And if so, what did they make of this shift?

Many students said, yes, school feels different now. Why? They pointed to remote learning changing their routines, an increase in anxiety and a decrease in motivation, the ease of making up schoolwork online and much more. Read their responses in full below.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the conversation on our writing prompts this week, including students from Central Bucks South High School in Warrington, Pa .; Norwood High School in Norwood, Mass.; and West Salem High School in Salem, Ore.

Please note: Student comments have been lightly edited for length, but otherwise appear as they were originally submitted.

Remote learning made students comfortable with missing school.

I believe that there are two main contributors to missing school too much. The first is online school. Myself included. It was very easy to simply leave the call after taking attendance and the teacher wouldn’t realize. Skipping class was easy and you could still get high grades. Transitioning back to real school, kids still held that true. They knew that they could miss school and still do well because covid taught that to them. The second reason is punishment. When you miss school, nothing happens. Class goes on and you have a little extra homework the next day but that’s it. What is the issue with missing class is a very common thought and it’s true. There is very minimal downside to missing school. When I had surgery, I missed a full week of school and within a day and a half, I was fully caught up again. Missing school has just become all too easy.

— Xavier, Pennsylvania

2020 was when our lives completely changed for the worst. We all had to stay inside and stay separate from each other. It was terrible, not being able to talk to my friends, and seeing the death toll on news constantly rise. However, after a year into the pandemic, I believe students realized the power they now had, including me. Now that I am a highschooler, I am going to admit that sometimes I would just mute my class and do whatever I wanted. School became shorter and easier to pass than ever before. That’s why when we all transitioned back into school, it was weird. We all still wanted to get through class the “easy way,” yet now that we were back, it wasn’t possible. This is why we started increasing our absences. The threat of absence has become weak, students are not as afraid to stay out of school. Furthermore the threat of being infected gave just one more reason to be out of school, for the sake of “preventing others from getting sick,” when in reality you feel fine. That is most likely why the absences in school had an exponential increase.

— Joshua, Pennsylvania

Students feel like expectations are lower than they were before the pandemic.

As a student in high school, I’ve come to realize the horrible state our attendance has been in since the pandemic. The reason can be simplified into one idea: laziness. We are lazy, willing to do only enough to get by, no more, no less. If a student doesn’t need to come to a class to obtain the grade they wish to achieve, then they won’t show up. Classes are not challenging enough to make students feel that they are worth going to. My mom is used to getting texts from me during the school day, begging to be excused from a class where “we’re doing nothing” or, “I already finished the work,” which is true, yet I abuse the opportunity to miss class because I know there will be no greater coincidence, I will still be getting an A. Due to my laziness, I would rather be at home taking a nap than sitting in a class with no greater impact on my life.

— Clara, Salem, Oregon

Since the pandemic, schooling has been focused on getting students caught up to where we’re supposed to be. Consequently, more allowances are made for students who don’t do assignments or don’t even show up. And with the switch to all online because of the pandemic, things have never shifted back. If a student misses a day or even a week, they can easily see what they missed and do it and submit it from home. With this option giving them the exact same grade as it would if they actually went to school, it’s no wonder why students are choosing to stay at home or skipping class. Additionally, the pandemic had heightened anxiety levels in students, specifically social anxiety, making them less likely to show up. The allowances made by the school district for students has created a space for students to be lazy and get away with it. This is fostering a negative impact on student work ethic not only now, but also in the future when this generation will be entering the work force.

— Emma, West Salem High School

The period of school shutdowns got students out of their school routines.

When I think back to virtual learning, my brain automatically goes to how stress free it was. I was in sixth grade when Covid first hit and going through a period of my life where I was extremely anxious at school. I believe that this break is exactly what I needed at the time. However, I do believe that in the long run, this online learning time period got a lot of people into the routine of not having a routine. A lot of people at my school would turn their camera off and fall asleep or go on their phones during online learning. I believe that there were times that I did this as well. I also think that this mindset carried through into the grades where I did not have an online/hybrid option. In eighth and ninth grade, I happened to stay home sick, go into school late, or leave early a lot. I think this is due to me not taking school as seriously due to the grading methods that were being used and how some of my teachers were not grading harshly. Now that I am a sophomore in high school, I think I have finally gotten back into the routine of actual schooling and not staying home sick unless I actually feel extremely sick.

— Madison, Pennsylvania

Before the pandemic and as I was growing up, I was the kind of student that wanted perfect attendance. For some odd reason, it made me feel like a better student if I never missed a day. This included turning my parents down when they offered me to go on trips, even though I was only in fourth grade and the work that I would have missed wouldn’t have made an impact in my academic career. However, after the pandemic school began to feel optional. We felt what it was like to fall out of the routine that going to school was and were never able to fully recover from it. I think that having experienced attending school from your bed, in your pajamas has played a major role in the current trend of students receiving more absences. For me, it made me realize that the “0” next to your number of absences didn’t matter as much as I had once thought. As a now highschooler, the school days are long and every class requires an abundance of work and undivided attention that whenever there is a substitute or not much going on, it is easy to decide to leave school. With senior year approaching, everything’s purpose is college and the fact that colleges aren’t able to see how many absences a student has when they apply, does play a role in the increasing number of absences.

— Ava, Miami Country Day School

Because assignments and other materials are online, students find they can keep up with their classes even if they don’t attend school.

Schools have adjusted rules so much that it makes school feel optional. Don’t want to attend class publicly? Take online classes. Don’t want to take “required” state testing? Opt out. Before, school seemed strict, we didn’t have the option to opt out of tests, we didn’t think of taking online school. Yet now, schools make it so easy to skip because everything is simply online. Our assignments, lectures, and teachers are all online. There are no longer requirements in school. What’s the point of attending if we can graduate without taking state testing or attending advisory — also a requirement, yet I no longer have an advisory because my counselors said I don’t need to take it to graduate. It’s confusing. Students have been enabled for over 4 years now since quarantine started. School doesn’t feel mandatory, it’s optional. I’m currently enrolled into 2 AP classes, so I try my best not to miss school. But it’s inevitable, I get sick, I have family situations or maybe I simply don’t feel like attending school. But I see people skip school like nothing. “I didn’t feel like going” is a constant statement I hear. Not many students have the motivation to attend, and simply don’t go because they have a comfort in their head that they can graduate while missing multiple days of school nearly everyday.

— Olivia, Salem, OR

Current absenteeism rates have significantly impacted my learning experience for the past few years. Since the pandemic, there has been a noticeable shift in the perception of the value of education and whether or not attendance is an important factor in a student’s academic success. In the years following 2020, I found myself struggling to make it to class everyday due to my new found efficiency of working at home with my computer. I felt that even if I was not in class personally, I would be able to keep up with my work easily as it was all online regardless. Due to this I would go on trips or skip class purely because I was under the impression that I would be able to continue achieving virtually.

— Ruby, RFHS

Before the pandemic, my attendance was stable but after the pandemic, my absences were piling on. It was difficult to get back in the rhythm of in person school when I had already done a whole year online, but now my attendance in school is definitely getting better. On the other hand, students in my school tend to miss school and it is a rare sight to see a full class. Some students go as far as showing up to class once a week and just do the classwork online. After the pandemic, schools went from paperwork to all online, which is a big reason why students miss all the time, knowing that school work can just be done at home. It has definitely affected students’ grades and goals in life, but hopefully in the future, absences can lower back down.

— Emily, Atrisco Heritage Academy High School

Going to school, and finding the motivation to have as good an attendance record as possible, now feels like more of a struggle.

As students, we’ve developed a comfort in staying in bed during school without having to get ourselves ready to go outside. We had the ability to wake up five minutes before “school” started to get on our zoom calls. Now, we must wake up an hour and a half prior, and make breakfast and pack lunch, before driving to school. The process is tenuous as the article states, but because we’ve accustomed to a different lifestyle, it just makes this one seem like so much more work. I, myself have noticed my difference in attendance after COVID-19. I used to be very obsessed with perfect attendance, but I had 11 absences in my sophomore year, right after coming back from online school. Nowadays, I’m more lenient on myself when it comes to taking a mental health day, because the process can be overwhelming. School is very important, so of course I try to always come in, but sometimes it can be hard. I have not noticed this trend in the world, as well as with myself until this article. It’s enlightening to know that this had not only an effect on me, but all over the country. Hopefully the rates of absenteeism will decrease as time goes on, because we are the future.

— Anisha, New Jersey

Before virtual learning, I never made much of a habit of not turning in work or showing up for class. It was so much easier then but since virtual learning, it had become incredibly difficult for me to focus as well as keep up motivation to continue school. It was easy to skip and nobody really said much about it so it easily became a bad habit. That bad habit eventually leaked into normal school as well and it always sounds so much easier to break out of than it actually is.

— Tayy, NRHS

As the average high school class skipper (only sometimes), in my personal experience, missing out on classes hasn’t really been because of mental health concerns, but more of just lasting laziness from the pandemic. I feel as though I was relatively hard working in middle school/elementary but after a few years off with only half effort assignments, I have grown to become more sluggish and reluctant when it comes to more advanced work while in school. And it makes the option of missing out on classes because of my own reluctance a lot more appealing.

— Luke, Bali, Indonesia

My schedule during the week is get up, get ready for school, go to school, go home, do homework, go to sleep and then I repeat that everyday for 5 days. As much as I don’t want to dread going to school, it’s exhausting having the same schedule repeated everyday of the week. While in school, you have assignments assigned nearly everyday. I feel as though school has had a change in its meaning because of the COVID-19 pandemic. While in quarantine, we were looking at a screen for the whole day and lacked motivation to get assignments done. When we shifted to in person school again, it didn’t change. I now look at school as a task that I need to complete to shape my future. I need to have all my assignments perfect and turned in on time. The meaning of school has turned into a draining task rather than a place that you look forward to going to.

— Jamisan, Salem, Oregon

Some students face challenges in attending class that may have nothing to do with the pandemic.

I don’t believe that students are skipping because it is so easy to catch up and pass, despite their absences. In fact, I know that a lot of people who skip aren’t passing most of their classes. They do this because their parents don’t hold them accountable, and there is always something deeper going on in that student’s life that makes it that much harder for them to find the motivation to go to class. I don’t think making the classes harder will hold students more accountable, but in fact deter them from going to class at all. If a student is aware that they are failing and doesn’t understand the concept of the class, and the class proceeds to become harder, they are going to quickly become unmotivated to go to class in the first place, feeling out of place compared to the other — passing — students in the class. While I don’t have a solution for this problem, myself, I feel that the problem is much broader than we suspect, and the answer will be a much deeper journey to find.

— Kylie, West Salem HS

Schools can do more to get students back in class.

I attend a French school in London and attendance is closely monitored. Absences have to be justified by your parents or you could get into trouble. I think it’s important to attend school as we did before Covid - because as well as learning the curriculum, it is crucial to socialise with your friends and classmates, which is good for your mental health … I wonder if social media could be a factor? If students did not have access to social media or the internet, would they prefer to be in school with their friends? This increase in absenteeism could affect students’ chances of getting into University when they come to finish school or even their opportunities later in life. Students need to be reminded of this more and more perhaps. School helps you to learn not just about facts but also helps to build your emotional quotient & social intelligence — which are all valuable for life.

— Alexandre 14, London

As a current high school junior, my experiences with skipping have been minimal at best, however, I feel strongly that the reason behind skipping is pretty simple. Students don’t care as much about school and the system encourages it. When faced with the choice of sitting in a class and learning about the Patagorian theorem or hanging out with friends, many students are now choosing the latter. The lack of care or effort being put forth in school doesn’t even affect their grades! This is due to certain classes having minimal grades set at 50%, which is 10% away from a pass. This system is actively encouraging people to put minimal effort into a class just to get a pass and graduate. Removing courses like this would certainly raise the importance of getting the work done. Another solution to this problem would be having attendance as a grade, if your grade depends on you being in classes then most would show up. If you have to show up to class to pass then more students would be inclined to do so. The emphasis is on not bending the knee to people who don’t want to show up to class, not giving them a minimal 50%, we should mark attendance for a passing grade, and letting them fail. If we keep letting students skip with minimal consequences then their attitudes won’t change and thus hinder our students’ growth.

— Henry, Salem, OR

Learn more about Current Events Conversation here and find all of our posts in this column .

School Life Balance , Tips for Online Students

The Pros and Cons of Homework

Updated: December 7, 2023

Published: January 23, 2020

Homework is a word that most students dread hearing. After hours upon hours of sitting in class , the last thing we want is more schoolwork over our precious weekends. While it’s known to be a staple of traditional schooling, homework has also become a rather divise topic. Some feel as though homework is a necessary part of school, while others believe that the time could be better invested. Should students have homework? Have a closer look into the arguments on both sides to decide for yourself.

Photo by  energepic.com  from  Pexels

Why should students have homework, 1. homework encourages practice.

Many people believe that one of the positive effects of homework is that it encourages the discipline of practice. While it may be time consuming and boring compared to other activities, repetition is needed to get better at skills. Homework helps make concepts more clear, and gives students more opportunities when starting their career .

2. Homework Gets Parents Involved

Homework can be something that gets parents involved in their children’s lives if the environment is a healthy one. A parent helping their child with homework makes them take part in their academic success, and allows for the parent to keep up with what the child is doing in school. It can also be a chance to connect together.

3. Homework Teaches Time Management

Homework is much more than just completing the assigned tasks. Homework can develop time management skills , forcing students to plan their time and make sure that all of their homework assignments are done on time. By learning to manage their time, students also practice their problem-solving skills and independent thinking. One of the positive effects of homework is that it forces decision making and compromises to be made.

4. Homework Opens A Bridge Of Communication

Homework creates a connection between the student, the teacher, the school, and the parents. It allows everyone to get to know each other better, and parents can see where their children are struggling. In the same sense, parents can also see where their children are excelling. Homework in turn can allow for a better, more targeted educational plan for the student.

5. Homework Allows For More Learning Time

Homework allows for more time to complete the learning process. School hours are not always enough time for students to really understand core concepts, and homework can counter the effects of time shortages, benefiting students in the long run, even if they can’t see it in the moment.

6. Homework Reduces Screen Time

Many students in North America spend far too many hours watching TV. If they weren’t in school, these numbers would likely increase even more. Although homework is usually undesired, it encourages better study habits and discourages spending time in front of the TV. Homework can be seen as another extracurricular activity, and many families already invest a lot of time and money in different clubs and lessons to fill up their children’s extra time. Just like extracurricular activities, homework can be fit into one’s schedule.

The Other Side: Why Homework Is Bad

1. homework encourages a sedentary lifestyle.

Should students have homework? Well, that depends on where you stand. There are arguments both for the advantages and the disadvantages of homework.

While classroom time is important, playground time is just as important. If children are given too much homework, they won’t have enough playtime, which can impact their social development and learning. Studies have found that those who get more play get better grades in school , as it can help them pay closer attention in the classroom.

Children are already sitting long hours in the classroom, and homework assignments only add to these hours. Sedentary lifestyles can be dangerous and can cause health problems such as obesity. Homework takes away from time that could be spent investing in physical activity.

2. Homework Isn’t Healthy In Every Home

While many people that think homes are a beneficial environment for children to learn, not all homes provide a healthy environment, and there may be very little investment from parents. Some parents do not provide any kind of support or homework help, and even if they would like to, due to personal barriers, they sometimes cannot. Homework can create friction between children and their parents, which is one of the reasons why homework is bad .

3. Homework Adds To An Already Full-Time Job

School is already a full-time job for students, as they generally spend over 6 hours each day in class. Students also often have extracurricular activities such as sports, music, or art that are just as important as their traditional courses. Adding on extra hours to all of these demands is a lot for children to manage, and prevents students from having extra time to themselves for a variety of creative endeavors. Homework prevents self discovery and having the time to learn new skills outside of the school system. This is one of the main disadvantages of homework.

4. Homework Has Not Been Proven To Provide Results

Endless surveys have found that homework creates a negative attitude towards school, and homework has not been found to be linked to a higher level of academic success.

The positive effects of homework have not been backed up enough. While homework may help some students improve in specific subjects, if they have outside help there is no real proof that homework makes for improvements.

It can be a challenge to really enforce the completion of homework, and students can still get decent grades without doing their homework. Extra school time does not necessarily mean better grades — quality must always come before quantity.

Accurate practice when it comes to homework simply isn’t reliable. Homework could even cause opposite effects if misunderstood, especially since the reliance is placed on the student and their parents — one of the major reasons as to why homework is bad. Many students would rather cheat in class to avoid doing their homework at home, and children often just copy off of each other or from what they read on the internet.

5. Homework Assignments Are Overdone

The general agreement is that students should not be given more than 10 minutes a day per grade level. What this means is that a first grader should be given a maximum of 10 minutes of homework, while a second grader receives 20 minutes, etc. Many students are given a lot more homework than the recommended amount, however.

On average, college students spend as much as 3 hours per night on homework . By giving too much homework, it can increase stress levels and lead to burn out. This in turn provides an opposite effect when it comes to academic success.

The pros and cons of homework are both valid, and it seems as though the question of ‘‘should students have homework?’ is not a simple, straightforward one. Parents and teachers often are found to be clashing heads, while the student is left in the middle without much say.

It’s important to understand all the advantages and disadvantages of homework, taking both perspectives into conversation to find a common ground. At the end of the day, everyone’s goal is the success of the student.

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Why is looking at a solar eclipse dangerous without special glasses? Eye doctors explain.

By Sara Moniuszko

Edited By Allison Elyse Gualtieri

Updated on: April 8, 2024 / 8:54 AM EDT / CBS News

The solar eclipse will be visible for millions of Americans on April 8, 2024, making many excited to see it — but how you watch it matters, since it can be dangerous for your eyes. 

A  solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the sun and Earth, blocking the sun's light . When the moon blocks some of the sun, it's a partial solar eclipse, but when moon lines up with the sun, blocking all of its light, a total solar eclipse occurs,  NASA explains . Either way, you need eye protection when viewing.

"The solar eclipse will be beautiful, so I hope that everyone experiences it — but they need to experience it in the right way," said Dr. Jason P. Brinton, an ophthalmologist and medical director at Brinton Vision in St. Louis.

Here's what to know to stay safe.

Why is looking at a solar eclipse dangerous?

Looking at the sun — even when it's partially covered like during an eclipse — can cause eye damage.

There is no safe dose of solar ultraviolet rays or infrared radiation, said  Dr. Yehia Hashad , an ophthalmologist, retinal specialist and the chief medical officer at eye health company Bausch + Lomb.

"A very small dose could cause harm to some people," he said. "That's why we say the partial eclipse could also be damaging. And that's why we protect our eyes with the partial as well as with the full sun."

Some say that during a total eclipse, it's safe to view the brief period time when the moon completely blocks the sun without eye protection. But experts warn against it. 

"Totality of the eclipse lasts only about 1 to 3 minutes based on geographic location, and bright sunlight suddenly can appear as the moon continues to move," notes an eclipse viewing guide published in JAMA , adding, "even a few seconds of viewing the sun during an eclipse" can temporarily or permanently damage your vision. 

Do I need special glasses for eclipse viewing?

Yes.  Eclipse glasses are needed to protect your eyes if you want to look at the eclipse.

Regular sunglasses aren't protective enough for eclipse viewing — even if you stack more than one. 

"There's no amount of sunglasses that people can put on that will make up for the filtering that the ISO standard filters and the eclipse glasses provide," Brinton said.

You also shouldn't look at the eclipse through a camera lens, phone, binoculars or telescope, according to NASA, even while wearing eclipse glasses. The solar rays can burn through the lens and cause serious eye injury.

Eclipse glasses must comply with the  ISO 12312-2 international safety standard , according to NASA, and should have an "ISO" label printed on them to show they comply. The American Astronomical Society  has a list  of approved solar viewers.

Can't find these, or they're sold out near you? You can also  make homemade viewers ,   which allow you to observe the eclipse indirectly — just don't accidentally look at the sun while using one.

How to keep kids safe during the solar eclipse

Since this eclipse is expected to occur around the time of dismissal for many schools across the country, it may be tempting for students to view it without the proper safety precautions while getting to and from their buses. That's why some school districts are  canceling classes early so kids can enjoy the event safely with their families.

Dr. Avnish Deobhakta, vitreoretinal surgeon at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary at Mount Sinai, said parents should also be careful because it can be difficult for children to listen or keep solar eclipse glasses on. 

"You want to actually, in my opinion, kind of avoid them even looking at the eclipse, if possible," he said. "Never look directly at the sun, always wear the right eclipse sunglasses if you are going to look at the sun and make sure that those are coming from a reliable source."

Brinton recommends everyone starts their eclipse "viewing" early, by looking at professional photos and videos of an eclipse online or visiting a local planetarium. 

That way, you "have an idea of what to expect," he said. 

He also recommends the foundation  Prevent Blindness , which has resources for families about eclipse safety.

What happens if you look at a solar eclipse without eclipse glasses?

While your eyes likely won't hurt in the moment if you look at the eclipse without protection, due to lowered brightness and where damage occurs in the eye, beware: The rays can still cause damage .

The harm may not be apparent immediately. Sometimes trouble starts to appear one to a few days following the event. It could affect just one or both eyes.

And while some will regain normal visual function, sometimes the damage is permanent. 

"Often there will be some recovery of the vision in the first few months after it, but sometimes there is no recovery and sometimes there's a degree to which it is permanent," Brinton said. 

How long do you have to look at the eclipse to damage your eyes?

Any amount of time looking at the eclipse without protection is too long, experts say. 

"If someone briefly looks at the eclipse, if it's extremely brief, in some cases there won't be damage. But damage can happen even within a fraction of a second in some cases," Brinton said. He said he's had patients who have suffered from solar retinopathy, the official name for the condition.

Deobhakta treated a patient who watched the 2017 solar eclipse for 20 seconds without proper eye protection. She now has permanent damage in the shape of a crescent that interferes with her vision. 

"The crescent that is burned into the retina, the patient sees as black in her visual field," he said. "The visual deficit that she has will never go away."

How to know if you've damaged your eyes from looking at the eclipse

Signs and symptoms of eye damage following an eclipse viewing include headaches, blurred vision, dark spots, changes to how you see color, lines and shapes. 

Unfortunately, there isn't a treatment for solar retinopathy.

"Seeing an eye care professional to solidify the diagnosis and for education I think is reasonable," Brinton said, but added, "right now there is nothing that we do for this. Just wait and give it time and the body does tend to heal up a measure of it."

Sara Moniuszko is a health and lifestyle reporter at CBSNews.com. Previously, she wrote for USA Today, where she was selected to help launch the newspaper's wellness vertical. She now covers breaking and trending news for CBS News' HealthWatch.

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