From the wildfires in California to the Black Lives Matter movements, this year has proven challenging especially with the COVID 19 pandemic affecting everyday lives.

As students and teachers worked their way back into a school routine, they were expecting several changes.

One surprising change is the district decided to not have snow days, but e-learning days instead. This means that if the school were to close, students would just log in from home and continue their work.

Just like many changes, everyone has their own opinion on the matter, especially students.

“Positives of a snow day were something you would have when you look at the weather and it’s just a fun spontaneous day off,” said junior Sundari Vallelunga.

She also added that having the ability to rest and catch up on work was also nice.

Snow days provide a nice mental break for students and allow the kids to look forward to something even in the dead of winter. Will the lack of snow days make for a harder school year?

Senior Drew Braden points out his concerns with snow days last year.

“You had to make up for the lost time in school at the end of the year,” Braden said.

Braden also made the point that his summer will start sooner than later because we will no longer have to make up the school days. Continuing school into summer was a considerable worry among students when there were too many snow days.

Snow days could also have a frustrating effect on students when they miss an important test or something they were looking forward to was canceled.

Of course, this change affects the students, but what about teachers? Yes, teachers do have a life outside of school too.

English teacher David Miles said, “Snow days give me a chance to recharge, relax, and catch up on grading and other work for school.”

On the other hand, Miles pointed out the hardships of trying to make up a whole class period. Just like Miles, other teachers struggle with being a day or two behind.

Teachers also worry about the chance of having multiple snow days in a row which have an effect on their curriculum and make it difficult to catch-up. It also may have made the school year longer in the end which took away from summer.

As of now, there will be no more weather delays or shutdowns for middle or high schools. Students and teachers will log in from home and continue the school day online.

For more information on this topic, go to www.asd20.org or your student’s school website to learn about the schools new policies.