In a school year already riddled with challenges and new fronts, another road block is placed. Mt. Vernon saw its first major snowfall in years, resulting in two weeks out of school. Many questions are raised: how will this affect the rest of the school year? What will be missed? Will we have to make up the days we lost? Will the school year be extended?

Dr. Josh Ladd, the principal here at MVHS, has answers to many of those questions.

First of all, he isn't concerned with what education might have been lost during this unforeseen break. He says, "Students can fall behind slightly when we lose instructional time, but more often than not, our teachers are able to make up that lost time."

On a level even closer to the issue, we have Mr. Mike Ray, the American history teacher and a basketball coach for the boys' team. He discusses games that have been postponed and practices that were missed, placing many obstacles in the way of a regular basketball season. Finding a bright side, he says, "The good thing for us, I guess, is that all the other teams we play kind of had the same problem."

The season is now over, wrapping up yet another peculiar chapter of the 2021 school year.

More snow is already on the forecast as many have noticed. Should anymore snow days occur, Dr. Ladd said it is possible we would be continuing with AMI learning. Overall, he doesn't seem bothered by the break. He notes that the only effect he sees on students and staff is that they appear "more rested."

His job sees some changes in the wake of these two weeks, many tasks he had to accomplish, namely interviews, have been postponed, and mentions the changes in sporting schedules.

Mr. Ray also has some thoughts on the break and its overall effect, mentioning that virtual students now are very ahead of seated students, putting a lot of stress on teachers as they decide how to "manipulate" this unforeseen gap.

He says that the snow, coupled with COVID-19, have led to a very "choppy" and "strange" year, noting the inability to establish a real routine. He says that there are definitely things that will not have an opportunity to be covered, but that we have no way of knowing what they are until May.

Dr. Ladd makes some final comments saying, "I think over-all, the break was well-timed. Both our staff and our students needed some time to recuperate. I do believe a few days would have been sufficient, but Mother Nature had other plans."