Will snow days go away?

SANDUSKY — Snow days might melt away for good. Learning from home has become more popular amid the COVID-19 pandemic. To make up for lost instruction time, the state now counts hours rather than calamity days. The minimum instruction hours needed for Ohio schools depend on student age: 1,001 hours for grades 7-12; 910 hours for full-day kindergarten through sixth-grade; and 455 hours for half-day kindergarteners. Despite this change, many districts still factor in five calamity days each year. In 2020, a provision in House Bill 164 signed into law by Gov. Mike DeWine gave flexibility on how schools use remote learning and calamity days. For instance, the days can be used if there's a staff shortage, which is what happened to Perkins and Norwalk schools this academic year. Students still learning Recent winter storms forced class cancelations. But some schools, like Sandusky, still wanted students to complete online assignments. On its social networking page, parents criticized officials for not letting children have the day off during a chaotic year. "The kids need a little normalcy back in (their) lives," parent Brandi Neiding said. "If that means having a snow day and playing outside, then let them have it. (My kids) will have fun being kids, playing in the snow." Superintendent Eugene Sanders said even on calamity days, Sandusky students cannot afford to lose instruction time. "We believe that each day there is the opportunity for our students to gain knowledge," he said. Sanders argued ensuring students continue to learn outside the classroom can help close the achievement gap caused by the pandemic, among other reasons. To prepare for the 2020-21 school year, Sandusky Schools purchased electronic devices for students who need them for virtual learning. Snow days still exist Perkins, Norwalk and Huron schools students haven't had virtual learning on snow days. Friday was Norwalk Schools' fifth snow day, superintendent George Fisk said. Four days, including Friday, were used for weather since country roads were unsafe. Officials are considering virtual learning, but he understands not all students have reliable internet access. Perkins Schools spokesman Jeff Stacklin said if the district uses up five snow days, online assignments will be needed. "We are keeping to the tradition of calamity days as we have always known them; especially during this pandemic phase and following our current contract accordingly," he said. With three snow days so far, Huron Schools superintendent Dennis Muratori said students will also have remote learning after five snow days are used. Will calamity days go away? Technology is forcing snow days to become obsolete, Sanders said. "I can see the traditional snow day becoming a thing of the past over time," he said. "One of the options we could use is to start the snow day a little later in the morning, thus allowing a couple of hours in the morning for kids to go out and make a snowman. "We are living in such a competitive world and technology is forcing us to change at such a rapid pace. It will likely take some time for parents, teachers, students, and the general public to adapt to this notion, but it would appear that this change is not only on the horizon but likely here to stay." Fisk had similar beliefs. "I'm very interested in that," Fisk said about snow days changing. "Monroeville (Schools) has switched to that. Some of our families and students have connectivity issues. We are still working on that. We identified two buildings in town and added WiFi to two parking lots. We have equipped Norwalk Middle School and Maplehurst Elementary and connect to our WiFi. People can come and log in during certain hours in those spots." But in order for all schools to be able to have class on snow days, Fisk believes rural and economically disadvantaged school districts should solve high-speed internet issues, a hot topic in education since the pandemic started. Reach reporter Caitlin Nearhood at nearhood@sanduskyregister.com and follow her on Twitter @CaitlinNearhood