Whatever Happened to Snow Days?

Here’s a real head scratcher for you: We live in northwestern Pennsylvania, four miles from the Ohio line, just a mere ten miles below the snow belt line, and . . . we don’t have snow days.

I first learned this unbelievable fact when my kids started school. At the time, it didn’t affect us. They were enrolled in the local private school and what the school lacked in rigor and resources it made up for in common sense.

The “good old snow days”

The administrators weren’t afraid to go their own way and call delays and snow days whenever good sense would dictate they were necessary. And in northwestern PA they are necessary a few times each year. Their independence, self-confidence, and willingness to do the right thing was likely why they chose to work at a private school.

How I miss those early years!

During that time we usually had one or two snow days a year and a handful of late starts. Our local district hated this because it made them look bad. They tried to strong arm the private school into following their lead and said because we shared buses we had to go along with them.

The private school administrators called this nonsense. Three students were bused on the local buses and they adamantly refused to compromise student safety.

What about safety?

Getting to school in a snowstorm was, and still is, a safety issue.

Our snow plows are not reliable and often the buses barrel through my neighborhood before the snow plow. And barrel is what they do. Our bus drivers tend to drive on the wild side. I’ve called both the district office and the police to report reckless driving. (And my own kids have never ridden the bus.)

It’s not just the neighborhoods and side roads that remain snow covered. The main roads also are left untreated, especially the state route that runs through the middle of town and on which all three schools are situated. The town maintains it’s the state’s job to plow this road. And the state is busy clearing interstates and major thoroughfares, so clearing a four-lane road in a small town is not their priority. They’ve actually said the school needs to delay to give them more time to clean the roads.

But instead of doing that, we carry on as thought everything is normal. This means there are tons of young, inexperienced drivers trying to navigate snowy, icy roads. And, when they get to school, often the parking lots have not even been plowed. The teachers and students have to trudge through the snow to get into the building.

Between the anxiety of driving in wintry conditions and the discomfort of wet and freezing feet, it’s hard to focus on anything, much less learn.

Dangerous temperatures

Some mornings our wind chills are well below zero. Although my home district is a busing district, some kids stand at the bus stops in the pitch dark–do you know how dark it is at 6:45 am in the winter? Waiting for buses that sometimes are ten, fifteen, twenty minutes late.

The repose to this is that kids should dress for the weather. Or find alternate ways to school. We live in a winter environment and people need to be prepared.

I hate comments like that. They are so ignorant and presume so much that simply cannot be fairly assumed. Not everyone has access to the “right” clothes. Not all families can afford snow boots and winter parkas designed for the arctic (which is what you need to guard against below zero temperatures.) Not all kids have another means of transportation.

Preparing for snow days

This attitude shifts the responsibility from the school/state–the powers that are forcing kids to school–to the children. It is true that we live in a winter climate. It is true that snow and ice and bitter cold temperatures are a part of our world. (I can’t wait to move where they are not). So why isn’t the town more prepared for the weather?

Why aren’t the salt trucks out when a storm is predicted?
Why aren’t the plows out before the buses?
Why aren’t the parking lots salted and plowed and made safe for children?

I’ll tell you why . . . because nobody truly cares about safety. This is a point that has been made abundantly clear to me in a variety of contexts. From COVID policies, to access to the building, to answering the phone, to communicating threats–our school shows a serious disregard for student safety.

What they care about is control. They want the kids in school all day, every day, so they can control them.

Flexible Instruction Days

While other districts have embraced Flexible Instruction Days (“FID”), during which kids can learn from home on their laptops, for a certain number of days a year, our district hasn’t done this. I recently learned that we don’t have a flexible learning plan in place. Not just for snow days, but for any thing.

I recognize that some people are not fans of FIDs. They’d rather just have the day off to play in the snow. And I get it.

Some of my very favorite childhood memories were playing the the snow on snow days. Getting all bundles up in snowsuits, hats, scarves, gloves and mittens, and three pairs of sock that barely fit into our boots and building forts and snowmen, riding sleds, having snowball fights. Finally coming inside were out gloves needed to be rung out and our fingers were numb and sipping hot chocolate.

But we don’t have any snow days. If the school were forced to cancel classes, it would change the school calendar, which is a nightmare for planning purposes.

That’s the beautiful thing about FID. Kids can stay safe and warm and continue to learn in much the same way they learn in the classroom. Vacation days remain intact and last day of school stays the same. And these days only occur a handful of times a year, so they don’t interfere with learning or social development.

But we don’t have FID either. Even after living through a pandemic that shuttered schools for three months (or longer), we don’t have a plan in place for kids to continue learning from home. This is inconceivable. And yet it is true.

Common sense

The snow plow just rumbled through my neighborhood at 8:39 a.m. This is well after both the early and late buses rolled through.

The snow continues to fall lightly.

Perhaps we didn’t need a snow day today. (With a high school senior and elaborate plans already made for graduation I don’t actually want one.) But I think it goes without question that the roads should be safe BEFORE anyone is expected to be at school. And if they are not safe at 6:45 a.m., then a delay is non-negotiable.

Too bad our administrators don’t have any common sense.

Off we go!