Snow days are a staple of everyone’s childhood. Nothing is better than your parents coming into your room and telling you to go back to sleep, that school called, and you have a snow day. With the ability to teach students online because of Covid, McNick has changed their policy to allow only one day off school for a snow day. “We realize the benefit and excitement of a good old fashioned snow day so we will probably let the first snow day be an off day but after that they will be virtual. Technology has certainly allowed us the opportunity to not miss instruction time even in the event of bad weather and that is a good thing,” Director of Curriculum Dan Rosenbaum said. As of 2017, the State of Ohio no longer allows calamity days in school calendars, but leaves it up to each individual school to plan for “excess hours” to accommodate for lost time due to weather.
Snow days give students a chance to rest and recharge and have a break from school. Sophomore Harlan Mulvey said, “Snow days are exciting and there’s nothing better than waking up and hearing that you have the day off. I don’t like how that’s being taken away because classes can be online. Snow days are a good break from everything, and students and teachers need breaks now more than ever.”
While most students understand the change, there is a loss of childhood magic. “I understand why the policy has changed, but giving us only one snow days makes me a little less excited to see snow coming down, because I know that it won’t really affect whether we have school or not,” freshman Amanda Braig said.
“While I understand the will to move to become more efficient, snow days were simply enchanting as a child, and I surely spent more time hoping to not have school on many nights rather than doing my homework. The ability to sit in my basement and play video games all day when I thought I would be at school made my winters most magical,” senior Jakob Tucker said.
Snow days aren’t just a free day for the students. “My mom who is a teacher really enjoys snow days too because it’s nice to just have a one-day break from school,” senior Aarron Martin said.
“I especially feel as though this year should have a greater opportunity for snow days, as everyone is especially stressed out about the pandemic, teachers and students alike, and having an occasional day off would be a nice surprise,” senior Ayden Bailey said.
Some of people’s favorite childhood memories come from snow days. “When I was in grade school, my whole class would team up to ‘get luck’ for a snow day. We would all promise to flush ice down the toilet, wear our pajamas inside out, etc. When it (rarely) happened, it was a thrill and it felt like a successful team effort,” senior Anna Eiser said.
One of junior Conner Dute’s favorite snow day memories was “Building two large forts of snow in the back yard of one of my friend’s house and playing war. We had different teams, the infantry, command, and ‘artillery’! it was amazing.”
The McNicholas Milestone 