As of my writing, it’s Friday, February 25th. The weather is…terrible. Last night, school districts made the call to move the kids to remote learning today. And — wow — do people have some things to say about that!

As not to be left out of the fun, let me share with you my utterly unsolicited opinion regarding snow days vs. remote learning days.

Here’s the thing. I don’t want to take snow days away from kids. Of course, I want them to go out, play in the snow, go sledding, enjoy the day. But there are a lot of days (like today) where we all know kids aren’t going outside to play in the sleet, slush, and grossness that is today. So isn’t it better to have them do remote learning and not lose a day of the upcoming Easter break where there is sure to be better weather to enjoy and more to get out and do?

Don’t get me wrong, if we get six inches of fluffy white snow, and Elsa herself is out knocking on doors asking if you want to build a snowman, YES! That’s what snow days are made for! Bundle up the kids, play in the snow, come inside, drink hot chocolate, and watch movies! But if kids are going to be stuck inside, not able to go out and enjoy the time off anyway, it just makes more sense to have the kids not waste a potential nice day off (especially since Easter is late this year, or worse, a day of summer vacation) when they don’t need to!

For all the complaints we can have about technology — and there are many — this is a big advantage of having Chromebooks and iPads and Zoom for the kids!

Listen, I remember the blizzard of 1993. I believe I was in 7th grade. I think we can all agree that we all reached a point where we had had about all we could take of playing in, shoveling, moving, and dealing with snow. If remote learning had been an option back then, I’m sure most of us would have traded that for not having to go to school until mid-June.

Now, on to the folks that were complaining about them moving to remote before it even started snowing/sleeting. Let’s think about this for a second. Everyone knew the storm was coming. There wasn’t really any question about that. So again, since the choice was remote learning, wasn’t it better to make the call the night before to allow parents/guardians more time to arrange for any childcare needs or to make sure their rugrats had everything they needed for the following day instead of scrambling at 5:00 a.m.?

What’s the worst that could have happened on the off chance it wasn’t as bad as predicted. The kids did remote learning — probably finished their day earlier than usual — and got to start their weekend a little early — all without losing a school day they would have to make up later.

I can’t imagine that it is ever easy for the school districts to make this call. It seems they are going to lose no matter what, so how about we cut them some slack and remember they are doing the best they can to ensure the safety of ALL our kids.

It would help if you also remembered that some local districts cover A LOT of territory. So while East End in Williamsport may have pretty clear roads, leaving you wondering why your kid couldn’t go to school, roads in Trout Run and Cogan Station may be impassable. Broad Street in Montoursville may have little to no issue, but the same can’t be said about Rt. 287 — you get where I’m going with this. And the situation gets even worse when you start to consider flood-prone areas.

And that’s the sticking point. All of the districts have to take ALL of that into consideration when making the call of when or if to close the schools. They have to make sure that ALL kids have the ability to get to and from school safely and securely. And while that isn’t always convenient for all the parents, they are responsible for thousands of kids.

In 2020 and 2021, COVID caused A LOT of kids to fall behind in academics — through no fault of their own. So I don’t know that jumping straight to them missing more school when we have the ability to keep them working while they are tucked up safe at home is an option. I’m not saying it’s the right choice every time, but on days like today, when, let’s face it, ain’t no one going out to play in the slush, it seems like the best option.