Every winter, students across the city await that rare and exciting news that school is closed for a snow day, but since 2021, the NYC Department of Education (DOE) has designated snow days as remote learning days for public schools, requiring students to log onto their computers and participate in a day of virtual work.
Since 2021, the DOE has designated multiple school days to be online snow days, all having different experiences for the students with unique issues and situations. The most notable out of these cases was on February 13, 2024, a winter storm caused the DOE to instruct over 900,000 students to stay home, but the new remote snow day policy did not go as planned.
The DOE’s servers crashed from an overload of users. Tens of thousands of students and educators could not attend classes on Google Meets and Zoom, and many gave up trying. Additionally, some just decided to not attend online school before the issues began to occur. Finance major Anna Gupta (‘25) is one of many who witnessed the troubles on that day. She stated, “the Zoom program completely crashed.”
Tech students such as Takuo Yamamoto (‘27) felt frustrated. “That day was a complete disaster,” he said. “ I wouldn’t want to go through that again.”
In a recent Survey poll, 86% of Tech students reported that they feel remote learning does not academically benefit them.
Another poll conducted by The Survey revealed that 82% of Tech students felt disengaged and unmotivated on February 13th 2024. Yamamoto shared the majority view.
“The motivation and concentration needed to work remotely from home during snow days was just hard to find,” he admitted.
AP World History and Pre-AP World History teacher Ms. Cirino noticed a spike in student absences that day. Finance major Anna Gupta (‘25) was one of many students who chose to remain offline.
“I stayed off my computer because I am a big believer that everything happens for a reason, so if it snows outside, I’m going to go outside and enjoy the snow,” she explained.
Once associated with icy fun outside, snow days are now associated with hours of technical issues and awkward zoom lectures. Shivaji Nikam (‘27) explained that engaging in activities such as snowball fights with friends creates “memories that stick with you for life” and “helps to connect with people better…and create better, long lasting friendships.”
Teachers such as Ms. Cirino also believe snow days are important breaks, explaining that she would prefer “to not work on snow days,” but complies with the rules. She argued that virtual snow days are “[wasted] time that kids could be outside being social and enjoying the snow with their family and friends.”
Numerous studies have shown that playing outside in the snow provides cardiovascular benefits and improves your mood. In March of 2017, researchers in England at the University of Sussex found hearing sounds of nature such as the perceptible sounds of snow falling helps to fuel relaxation in the brain.
The Survey’s polling also found that 92% of students believe that snow days should be used as mental health days rather than remote learning days. Gupta explained that whether it’s schoolwork, sports, or personal issues, everyone is carrying stress and mental health days could “act as days to connect with ourselves and if implemented properly, may lead to an increase in student productivity.”
Mental health days are an increasingly prevalent topic in discussions around student well-being. New York lawmakers have recently considered a bill that would allow students to take mental health days. If passed, snow days would be a perfect opportunity for student mental health days without actually missing a day of school.
Mayor Adams has insisted that the loss of learning during the pandemic means schools cannot afford to lose instructional days. He has argued that “our children have fallen behind,” and “we need to catch up.”
On average, NYC students receive anywhere from zero to two snow days per year. Contrary to Mayor Adam’s claim, missing one or two days of learning may not be detrimental to students, considering that the majority of Tech students feel that snow days do not yield academic improvement.
Additionally, with decreasing levels of snowfall due to climate change, snow days may become rarer, while extreme weather days due to air pollution or torrential rain may increase in frequency. Cases of these extreme weather days include the morning of extreme flooding in New York City on September 9th 2023. That day, subways, roads and sidewalks were inundated with high water levels. The DOE faced backlash from parents for keeping schools open even while damage was being reported in schools including Brooklyn Tech.
But for snow days, the future of them remains uncertain, but for now, students can expect to log back onto Zoom the next time the powdery white stuff accumulates around the city.
