During the winter months here in Michigan, snow days due to the inclement weather feel frequent. While students and teachers appreciate the small breaks, ultimately it slows down student progression and creates rising stress among students and faculty.
Especially in a school that follows trimester scheduling, snow days can make it hard to meet set deadlines.
“To a certain extent, I think teachers expect snow days, especially in tri two we usually get hit with most of them,” says CMPP teacher Cate McCraw. “Even if you try to plan for it in advance and leave yourself some buffer time, they can fall unexpectedly on days when you’re in the middle of a project or having a guest speaker visit. Trimesters usually speed by really quickly, so it’s hard to miss a day.”
Some classes get hit harder than others by the snow days. For example, an art class where you need to be in the classroom to get your work done gets affected much more by the snow days than a class like English, where you can usually do your work independently or remotely.
“If the students aren’t here and I’m not here, we can’t do the work that we need to do,” says ceramics teacher Candace Ottaviano. “I make the room accessible after school if I can, but oftentimes we can’t really prepare, and we just need to catch up afterwards.”
While students enjoy snow days, it does create overall stress and can cause them to fall behind in academics. If used efficiently, snow days can be very effective in catching up with your missing/late work.
“I think usually, if I’m behind in a class already, I will use the snow day to do my homework in the class and do my work,” says Max Adox (‘25). “In my business class, for example, we do a lot of work together, so it’s easier to do it in person. I would definitely say there are some classes that are easier to do independently and some classes that you would rather be there in person.”
