Snow days are a joyous occasion for students during their academic lives. Freedom from school work and lessons during a winter storm allow students to spend their free time to the fullest. Sledding and snowboarding, or staying inside and spending time with family and friends are memories many people remember forever. However, because of the Covid-19 pandemic, virtual and remote learning may take these opportunities away from some students. At PCM, school years are built with extra hours in case of a snow day. When a snow day occurs, these hours will account for the time missed at school. Still, if enough snow days happen then there may be school days that need to be made up. Weather or not snow days could be made up virtually on the day they occur is a decision for the PCM board. 

“We have not made a decision yet; this is something we have to go to the board on. We have enough hours built in that if we have snow days they will be counted in,” said PCM high school principal Kristen Souza.

 Several years prior, PCM had a year with many snow days that used these extra hours. The solution to this was to increase the duration of school days so students would not have to go to school in the summer months. Basically, depending on the school year, the schedule could change to allow students to make up snow days virtually on the same day. However, this does not mean that this will happen. There are solutions used in the past and systems in place to make up for snow days. Students have also protested the possibility of making up snow days virtually. 

“Having snow days online brings down morale of the students and we saw how online went when we went home because of Covid, so why do we think it’s going to work now? Many students don’t learn as well online as they do in person,” said junior Belle Hudnut. 

Some students believe that snow days should be spent as they have traditionally been: staying at home and relaxing. As of right now, snow days will be covered by the hours built into the school schedule designed to cover missed school days. The decision to move to having virtually school days on snow days lies with the PCM board.

“The board has not made a decision. We have to take into consideration that we have hours built in and how many snow days we will have. The superintendent is planning to go to the board about it, so it’s still up in the air,” said Souza.