New York Cancels Snow Days for Good; School Will Continue Remotely During Winter Storms

Bad weather during the winter will not hamper the children's learning because those attending public schools will still have to attend their online classes as New York permanently cancels snow days.

In an interview on Fox 5, New York Schools Chancellor David C. Banks said that snow days are out because new technology has allowed the kids to still attend classes via remote learning. Banks said this was a silver lining from the pandemic when schools shifted to digital classrooms in early 2020.

New York public school students have been used to a "no snow day" policy as a temporary measure since the lockdowns to ensure that they could attend more than 180 days of classes, as mandated by state laws. The policy was rolled out again for the 2021-2022 school year when some restrictions were lifted.

The city's public schools will start the 2022-2023 school year on Thursday, September 8, with the permanent snow day cancellation in place. New York City Schools has placed the announcement on its official site, adding that online classes will also be the option "when school buildings are closed due to an emergency."

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Kids and adults react as New York cancels snow day

Following the announcement, a schoolboy told Fox 5 that he liked being at home on a snow day because he could sleep longer during the cold winter morning and take a break from school work. Another child bemoaned that the cancellation was "not very fun."

Banks himself said that he would "boo" the announcement if he were still a young boy, but he reaffirmed to the children that this would be a good change. On Twitter, netizens were not pleased as well.

However, mom Danyela Souza Egorov told the New York Post that the school chancellor must also consider raising the state-mandated school days from 180 to 200 because of the learning gaps between remote learning vs. in-person learning.

"We all learned that online learning is not the same as having kids at school," Egorov said. "The New York State Education Department should not allow the district to offer less than 200 in-person days for every NYC student."

Low-income families struggle with their kids' online learning because they were provided with faulty devices or poor internet quality. Five parents sued the state's Department of Education in January as their kids fell behind in class.

New York schools will be safer from school shooters

Meanwhile, Banks also said that New York school workers have prepared and taken part in advanced active shooter drills and training this year to prepare for an unlikely situation. The chancellor said that additional school safety agents would be deployed on campuses, thanks to the recent graduates of the police academy. The chancellor is anticipating more agents when the next police trainees graduate in the coming months, per CBS News.

About 1,000 asylum students, who have yet to learn to speak English, will also be attending schools in New York this year. Banks said this is another challenge that school communities have to deal with, but they have partnered with English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers to help deliver the need.

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