Freezing temperatures and a historic winter storm have led to several schedule changes for STVM students and teachers over the past few weeks. Over the past 2 weeks, school was canceled on 4 occasions due to ice, snow, and frigid conditions that affected buses, roads, and safety. There’s still an extreme cold warning until 11 am Tuesday, the 27th, according to the National Weather Service, and wind chills are predicted to dip well below 0 in many parts of Northeast Ohio.
The week of January 26th brought more changes: school was canceled on Monday, the fifth and final allotted snow day for the 25-26 school year. The staff decided to move to virtual learning for Tuesday. These virtual learning days consist of four 45-minute class blocks, with a Google Classroom check-in at the beginning of each block. Irish Junior Grayson Donohue said, “I don’t mind online school, it’s fine because you can work at your own pace.”
Virtual Days prevent students and teachers from having extra school days at the end of the year.
On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, however, STVM delayed their start time 2 hours back from 8:00 to 10:00 and shortened the amount of time in blocks.
While many students enjoyed the unexpected breaks, frequent snow days have prompted changes and adjustments to routines and assignments to keep up with state learning requirements. Looking ahead, I hope students and teachers adjust well to virtual learning, which reminds many of how school looked during the COVID pandemic. Do you think we’ll get even more snow days? What are your thoughts on virtual school? Leave a comment below! Stay resilient, Irish family.
