After a long day of school, families across the country have the news on, watching the weather forecast with anticipation. Students’ eyes are glued to the painfully silent phone sitting on their kitchen counter. A normally dormant object, that has the opportunity to make the child’s day. 

Brrringg. Brrringg. Within seconds, excitement fills the once-silent house as news of a snow day comes through the automated voice on the phone. 

Does this scenario sound familiar? Does it sound like it was plucked from your childhood?

This is the case for many North Penn School District students as this was how the district used to announce the news of days filled with sledding and snowmen. 

Now, these days are out of sight, and complete days of sledding and snowmen are over, as a new solution for snow-filled streets has emerged: virtual snow days. 

As many school districts did, North Penn implemented asynchronous snow days, taking a similar approach to how they dealt with the pandemic. Instead of putting students, parents, teachers, and bus drivers alike in danger by having them commute in snow, students are now able to stay home and complete their assignments completely virtually. 

While this may seem like a bummer to many students as their motivation to complete assignments at home is low, it saves the district from using built-in snow days, allowing schools to let out earlier in June. 

“I like [virtual snow days] because it allows us to stay on track in our classes and we know that days aren’t getting added on at the end of the school year,” North Penn High School junior Ally Dahms said. 

Virtual snow days also let students complete their assignments at any time during the day allowing them to sleep in and procrastinate as little or as much as they want. Especially in high school where students are drowning in work, these days serve as a nice break from the redundancy of five-day school weeks. 

“I think [virtual snow days] are a nice break from the normal school week because they allow us to do our work at our own pace from the comfort of our homes,” North Penn junior Marley Capple stated. 

Not only do virtual days allow students more time to relax while doing work, they also have more time to catch up on life which is not always the case during a normal week. 

“I love virtual days because they break up the week nicely and it allows me to get caught up on life at home while still doing school,” junior Sarah Salem said. 

Although there is no longer excitement surrounding snow days, virtual snow days allow for a middle option between the two extremes in which students can stay up to date with their classes while staying in the safety of their homes.