Altoona should switch to virtual snow days

Maddie Cowfer, Reporter

When the weather effects going to school, it’s cancelled and students are forced to make up the day later in the year. The state of Pennsylvania recently approved virtual snow days allowing for alternatives to adding days into the school year at a later date.  It’s important for  all schools to develop plans to put in place. With the technology available at the junior high, students are prepared for learning at home during school days.

It’s getting closer and closer to the bad weather and snow days. The first issue with snow days is getting behind. Once students miss school for a day they often forget what they learned in class or material for a test. Essentially the students take a vacation day. Classes fall behind and it pushes back the schedule of the teacher’s lesson plans. If students didn’t have to make up snow days the teachers and students wouldn’t be behind. Doing virtual snow days would help students stay caught up and treat the day as a normal school day. 

Teachers would be able to send work through Google classroom and emails. This would make it easier for students to do work from home. This would also benefit students by knowing what they are expected to do when they get back. Students could also email their teachers if they need help with work. They could also text their friends what they need to do if they don’t know what to do. Those without internet access could use their Chromebooks in offline mode.

All the students would benefit from this. The students won’t have their spring break and summer vacation taken away. When there is a snow day, the make up days take away our spring break. Not only is spring break taken away but days are added to at the end of the school year. This causes summer vacation to be cut short repeatedly year after year.