Return of the Snow Day

Sledding in the park. Hot chocolate. Snowball fights. These are all memories that we have of snow days from our childhood. However, due to global warming and the COVID pandemic, many feared that snow days would forever be a distant memory. First of all, Philadelphia had not seen a major snow storm in 700 days. Second of all, students and families were under the impression that any school closures for inclement weather would be turned into “virtual learning days”. 

The week of the 15th showed that snow would be returning to Philadelphia. However, for the first bout of wintery weather, which occurred Monday night, school continued as usual on Tuesday. By that night however, district officials realized that arriving to school the next morning would be treacherous and thus declared a two hour delay. While this meant extra hours to sleep in for students and teachers, it still meant braving the icy roads and slippery sidewalks. When weather reports predicted heavy snowfall on Thursday night, Dr. Payne sent out an email to the Masterman community telling them to prepare for a possible virtual learning day. This meant that students should take home their chromebooks and chargers so that they could join class if necessary. However, as snow fell across the city on Thursday Night, Dr. Watlington, the Superintendent of the Philadelphia School District declared that Friday, January 19th, would be a snow day. A real snow day. In his message he explained that as a father he understood the importance of letting kids play outside in the snow and experience the joy of a snow day. He also explained that the District allotted one extra day outside of the mandatory 180 days which could be used for inclement weather. So, while the snow day was memorable, it may be the last one for the year.