What's the fun in a snow day, nowadays?

I'm sitting here trying to enjoy my day off from practicum and classes, but all I can think about is "How are we going to make this up?", "Maybe snowmadgeddon is real after all!", and "I wish I had ingredients to make some chili."

I love snow days. Don't get me wrong. I also love that I chose a profession that gets to enjoy snow days. It makes me feel like a kid all over again. However, snow days are only fun when they happen sparsely. The fun of sitting in front of the TV waiting for your school name to slide across the bottom of the news. The cheers of kids all over the city when they find out it's canceled, and the groans of adults who have to shovel it all. This morning I received a text at 5:30 a.m. from my supervisor letting me know school was canceled. Normally, a text that early would make me moan and groan, but I was excited about this one. However, as my day has worn on I realized, snow days are not fun past the allotted 5. There is a lot of talk about what happens once we hit five snow days. The school I do my practicum at already goes until June 30th, which in Massachusetts is the last possible day students are allowed to be in school. So, what happens now?

From what I've heard, there are two options, neither of which are pleasant. First, school on Saturdays. No one wants to make up snow days on Saturdays. Thinking about having to give up your weekends, especially when the weather gets nicer (I hope), for a snow day is awful. From a staff perspective snow days mean performing manual labor so pedestrians don't sue you for falling on the ice. For some kids, snow days mean sledding, snowball fights, and helping to shovel. Even as a kid I would rather give up the whimsicality of a snow day than go to school until the last possible second in June or on my free time on the weekends. Second, give up February or April Vacation, or both. At the rate the snow has fallen in Boston this winter, who knows how much more we'll be getting. Giving up February or April break is awful, especially for families and staff who have planned on taking time off for vacations. Do these people get penalized for not showing up to class or to teach? As of right now, who knows what will happen to make up the lost classroom time. All I know is, snow days have officially no longer fun!

I did stumble upon a Snow Day Calculator today, which predicted that there is a 99% chance of no school again tomorrow for my district. While I know the beast of a storm headed our way is going to dump more snow than we have room for, again, I really hope this is last one.

Stay warm and Stay Safe.

Until next thyme,
Erika