No more moment of joy when you hear your school district's name announced on the radio.
, New York City's Department of Education chancellor, David C. Banks, broke the bad news that New York City public school students should expect kids to log-on from home through virtual learning when weather conditions make it unsafe to travel to school.
"With the new technology that we have — that's one of the good things that came out of COVID — if a snow day comes around, we want to make sure that our kids continue to learn," Banks told WNYW. While the news is an obvious bummer for students, parents are also feeling a bit of sadness over the news. Snow days have been a legendary rite of passage for any kid growing up in areas where snow falls. The fact that NYC schools have declared them a thing of the past is a bit on the sad side. Instead of building snowmen and running inside for hot chocolate when your toes froze, kids will not be in front of a computer screen, learning that day’s curriculum.
Whether kids are in virtual school or have a traditional snow day free of work, it means that most working parents need to either stay home for the day or find a childcare solution. Whether you’re on the side of the school district or the parents who believe snow days are a kid’s right, it will be interesting to see if other major cities begin to follow the trend and also use virtual learning as an alternative instead of taking the day off for a snowball fight.