Snow Days Negatively Affect Students and Teachers Alike

Students and teachers alike have enjoyed the snow days that we’ve recently gotten. However, we all know that we have to make up those missed days and we all know that those missed days are affecting us as students.

So exactly how are we going to make up for all those missed days? Students at Forbush are left to wonder if we have to attend Saturday classes like our neighboring counties, and if we are even going to have an Easter break.

Vice Principal McDonald says that right now we will not have to worry about attending Saturday classes.

“We are only allowed to attend school 5 times a week,” McDonald stated.

The reason that other schools are allowed to hold Saturday classes is because they have already used all of their designated off days. They were not in school at the beginning of the week, therefore, the schools are technically allowed to have class on Saturday because they were not in school five times that week.

Mr. McDonald stated that we still have two days left for our Easter break. As long as nothing else keeps us away from school, then we should have a two-day break.

The snow days we had were imposed because the Board of Education was concerned for our safety. Science teacher Mr. McCarn recalls when students were still required to attend school on snowy days. “We had a lot of people getting in accidents,” he said, shaking his head. “Snow days are necessary, yes. Safety first.”

If you looked outside your window on some of the snow days and saw a clean street, you may have wondered to yourself why they cancelled school. It is because the Board has to survey the whole county for road hazards, such as icy streets.

“The County only has one school calendar. It may be fine in these southern parts of the county, but it may be bad on the other side. Also, school buses, especially in elementary schools, may not be able to reach students,” explained Mr. McDonald.

If you are a student, you may have felt that all these missed days were affecting you academically. Teachers, too, have expressed their concerns with how their students are fairing in class. Although teachers claim that their students’ grades are not being affected much due to the snow days, they claim that their students’ attention span is shorter than it is usually.

“It’s like every day we’re starting over,” art teacher Mrs. Matthews said. She also said that her lesson plans are being affected by slowing down the students and disturbing her class’ natural pace. The same can be said for McCarn’s class. He said that everything will work out because we are not really missing a single day. It is just hard for both students and teachers to come back for three days, only to be out for four days then back again for two days.

Delays are more troublesome for teachers. Mrs. Matthews said that the delays are harder because neither she nor the students can be in a set routine. Delays are good for safety, which is a priority, but bad for students academically.

Both of the teachers interviewed said that grades are not a problem; however, Mr. McDonald is concerned with the End of Curriculum (EOC) exams.

“Everybody worries about the EOC grades,” McDonald said. This is a normal concern. Students themselves have expressed concern on how these missed days are going to affect their grades.

Mr. McDonald recommends that if the forecast calls for ice or snow the next day, students should take their textbooks home with them and look over lessons learned. He also suggests that students read ahead. This may not be something students enjoy doing, especially during snow days, but it will make it easier when we go back to class.

Enjoy your snow days and get that extra hour or two of sleep on delay days! After all, if teachers are having fun on those snow days, then you should, too.

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