Michael Zhou ’21, Dhilan Lavu ’21, Peter Woodville ’21:
Due to this winter’s onslaught of snow, the Episcopal Academy has cancelled school four times this year. On average, the school is canceled around two to three times per year with one two-hour delay, both of which have already been surpassed with four snow days and three two-hour delays.
As a result of classes not meeting everyday because of the new schedule, missing one class due to a snow day can put a heavy burden on both teachers and students to make up the missed time. TJ Locke, Head of School, says, “I think it’s just frustrating for everybody. It’s hard to get into a rhythm. It’s also rough on the students as well as the parents, who may have to find daycare for their child while they are at work.” Amy Brotschul, Upper School French teacher shared similar thoughts, stating, “Snow days are always fun, but it is annoying to miss the class time. Often, our classes have to get pushed back.”
Most students appear to rejoice at the prospect of a snow day. Mike Wennemer ‘21 says, “I love snow days, it’s always fun because you can sleep in and then hang out with your friends for the rest of the day.” However, some students like Arya Venugopalan ‘21 gave a different perspective. Venugopalan says, “I like having snow days, but after a while they get annoying because it disrupts the flow of the schedule.”
Photos Courtesy of EA Twitter
The EA administration has looked into solutions for future cancellations. Locke cited that though it may not be necessary this year, it may be useful in the future to better utilize EA’s online resources when students are at home. “You could probably do a lot with Canvas and things like that now, where it’s not the same as being [at EA], but you could probably get assignments done and work could continue,” says Locke. He hopes that they won’t have to resort to that, however. “If we do [distance learning] well enough, we probably won’t have to add too many days but we’ll definitely have to consider it.”
There are a few factors that go into deciding whether or not to declare a snow day. Locke cited that he “closely monitors” the weather the entire week leading up to the expected snow and the decision is not up to him, but is based rather on other schools’ decisions. According to Locke, usually “everyone closes or no one closes.” He was also appreciative of the maintenance crew, saying that they put “great pride into their work, sometimes getting two to three hours of sleep,” so that school can continue to run the next day. “They always want to give me the ability that if I want to open school, they will be ready.”