Marshfield School District logo
MARSHFIELD, WI (WSAU-WDLB) — One local school district will likely still have regular snow days.
With a weather forecast that’s calling for freezing rain and snow the next few days, many kids and parents are wondering if the old-fashioned snow day has become a thing of the past, now that remote learning has been introduced in school districts across the country in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the School District of Marshfield, Superintendent Dr. Ryan Christianson says the option of using snow days in case of bad weather still exists, but he says that decision has more to do with teachers and students being prepared to go virtual than it does with what Mother Nature is up to.
“For our kids that are doing regular in-person learning this school year, they are not taking their iPads home every single day. So if we have a snow event that comes on pretty unexpectedly and we weren’t prepared for it and we didn’t send the iPads home. I think that’s more reason to say you know just catch your breath and have a day off and enjoy the snow at home kids.
“If we can see this thing coming and have enough time to prepare and plan enough that we can tell the kids that we’re going to send you home with the iPads, tomorrow is going to be a remote learning day if the weather is bad. Then it’ll still be a learning day but from home.”
Christianson also says snow days are still built into this year’s school calendar in case they are needed–especially if bad weather rolls in fast. “If we feel that because of road conditions and inclement weather, it’s not safe to have kids coming into the building. It’s not safe to run the buses and have young high school drivers driving. Then we would close our school buildings.
“I mean let’s remember that even at the high school and middle school level when we’re in this cohort hybrid model right now we have kids every day coming into the building. Elementary level is traditional in-person for those parents who have chosen to stick with that. We have a lot of kids in our elementary buildings so if just like in past years if it’s not safe to be out driving we’ll close school.
“So for in-person learning school is closed. Just by the nature of our schedules, we have more instructional minutes built into our schedule over the course of the year. So we have a little more flexibility at the elementary level. So for those kids out there that are listening that want the old school day off because of a closure of snow, that may still happen especially at the elementary level.”
If there is bad weather and the threat of a snow day, Christianson says the district will utilize its text-messaging “Sky Alert” system or direct communication from the various school buildings and the teachers themselves.
Comments