With new technology such as zoom, school this year has become easier to do online, especially since COVID-19 has plagued the nation.  In response, schools are fully remote while others like Ipswich high School are taking on a hybrid model. Either way schools have become dependent on technology for their learning this year.

Winter is coming which makes people question whether snow days are a thing of the past. Since class can be taken online, school administration argues that classes could continue remotely during snow days. This could work for any type of weather that hinders students from attending school. According to the article “The Beginning of the End of Snow Days,” Tom Berger suggests that districts around the U.S are working on different procedures for having students work at home when wintry weather closes school. 

Schools in New England struggle to make up snow days in the summer and they have always been a challenge for the administration. By eliminating snow days through online school, school would end earlier in the summer rather than being pushed late into June. Remote learning could be a solution to this issue that schools have had to deal with every winter. 

However remote school on snow days would replace many memories students make during these spontaneous breaks. It is always nice to have a day off from school to do traditionally snow days activities. Victoria Harper, a sophomore at Ipswich High School enjoys sleeping in and going outside in the snow, as well as spending time with family on snow days. “I like snow days because they are a spontaneous break,” claims Victoria who can be found drinking hot cocoa, making cookies with her sisters or reading a book on a snow day. 

Some students have the desire to continue with snow days since it’s a tradition that many students have enjoyed. Students like Behnji Dessources, a freshman just starting high school, believes that snow days  “are a sacred tradition and should be kept for everyone to experience.” 

Mr. Carovillano, assistant principal of Ipswich High School, also enjoys snow days. “When I was a kid I loved everything about snow days. Now that I am a parent I want my kids to have the same experience,” he explains. “I think it’s sad that they might become a thing of the past.” While many people have special memories associated with snow days, it may be more efficient to not make up the days in the summer. Why waste away a day in summer when you can rather have school online?

Although classes can be taken online in some extreme cases storms have been known to knock out power lines and cause mass outages in the district. “I think the only way we would have to close would be if the power was out from a big storm” says Mr. Carovillano when asked about technical issues. 

In the interview, Carovillano hints at how remote schooling could and can be conducted during a snow day. When asked if we should keep snow days or continue school online, Mr. Carovillano answered that “snow days will be very limited since we can all work from home.” He isn’t wrong but many students would miss having that spectacular spontaneous break, and it will be quite dismal to see a tradition come to an end.