New York City students will no longer get to enjoy snow days after officials said schools will shift to remote learning when winter weather strikes.
From September, students will be expected to login in for class from home if snow and ice forces schools to close.
Remote learning is being carried over into the 2021-2022 academic calendar after it was rolled out successfully during the pandemic, but the decision has received a frosty reaction online.
Covid ends snow days! New York City students will no longer get to enjoy snow days after officials said schools will shift to remote learning when winter weather strikes
‘What about kids who cant access internet at home, or have a laptop at home… it’s a snow day… y’all want them to walk somewhere??’, one person tweeted.
Several teachers pointed out how hard it is to plan an online lesson without much notice – exactly the scenario they would be in if a remote learning day was suddenly announced because of snow.
‘If I’m the teacher and it’s a snow day and they’d still want me to teach, I’m marking this down as one of my movie days’, one user wrote.
The decision received a frosty reaction online, with users quick to point out kids who do not have access to internet from home will end up missing school
Users were quick to point out how little snow New York gets each year – The city sees snowfall on average 11 days of the year and receives a total of 25.1 inches of snow
Children enjoy a day off school in December 2020 and manage to go sledding New York City’s Central Park
Another pointed out how rare it is to have a snow day in New York, saying: ‘New York City BARELY does snow days as it is! There needs to be a LOT of snow for schools to shut down in the city. There were many years growing up when there were none of them!’
The city sees snowfall on average 11 days of the year, and receives a total of 25.1 inches of snow.
But other users were just sad to see an end to snow days. One wrote: ‘Those kids will never experience the anticipation of and joy of a snowday. Such a shame really. I can still remember the feeling when they called our town.’
Several teachers pointed out how hard it is to plan an online lesson without much notice, exactly the situation they would be in under the new system
Kids use the impromptu days off to play in the snow across the city of New York
Other users were just sad to see an end to snow days and upset ‘those kids will never experience the anticipation of and joy of a snowday’
New York City’s Department of Education announced the changes in the 2021-2022 Academic Calendar on Tuesday
Announcing the change on Tuesday, the Department of Education said: ‘The DOE will shift all students to remote instruction in lieu of canceling schools due to severe weather conditions’.
The new rules, which also include a day of remote learning on Election Day, come into force on September 13, when the new school year starts.
As per state law, the year includes 180 days of school days, including four days set aside for staff development.
A holiday day for Indigenous People’s Day was added to the calendar on October 11, while Columbus Day was removed.
New York sees snowfall on average 11 days of the year, receiving a total of 25.1 inches of white powder (pictured, a snowy Times Square)
New York City’s public school system has eliminated snow days, replacing them with remote learning days’. (pictured, Mayor Bill de Blasi)
The DOE posted the new school calendar without fanfare on Tuesday morning, but later removed and reposted it after facing backlash from the city’s Italian American leaders.
The reposted version revised the October 11 holiday to ‘Italian Heritage Day/Indigenous People’s Day’.
A statement from the DOE said: ‘Over the years, the DOE introduced additional holiday observances as part of the school calendar, and has contractual obligations which limit the number of possible school days,
‘The pandemic has also created the ability to switch seamlessly to remote learning, and DOE central and schools have distributed hundreds of thousands of devices to ensure that learning can continue remotely during school closures.
‘To ensure we are meeting the required 180 days in session we are adopting two practices from this past school year.’
