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GLASTONBURY, CT (WFSB) — Glastonbury school officials announced on Wednesday that it will treat “snow days” as remote learning days for the 2020-21 school year.
The State Department of Education recently approved that option for school districts.
In a letter to parents, Glastonbury Superintendent Alan Bookman said his district decided to take advantage of that.
The education department said the decision to go remote will be made on the local level.
“We feel prepared to do this because of our successful one-to-one iPad program and our experiences with eLearning during 2020,” Bookman said in the letter.
On what would be considered “snow days,” students will instead learn remotely, connecting with their teachers over the internet.
He went on to say that parents will be notified of an inclement weather “eLearning day,” as soon as possible so they can prepare.
In a case where there are widespread power/internet outages that impact teachers and students, there will not be a remote learning day. Instead, school will be closed and it will be made up at the end of the school year.
“The continuity of learning is so important — the more days you have where it breaks up the learning, the harder it is to pick up. You’re doing review when they come back. Students do best when you’re following certain routines,” Bookman said.
Brookman also outlined some tips for students and parents for when it comes to an eLearning day, including:
If inclement weather is in the forecast, please be sure you are prepared to eLearn by bringing home any necessary technology and materials
Teachers will connect on with you on “snow days” using Zoom, Google Classroom, and/or Seesaw as your primary apps
Attendance will be taken and you will follow the school schedule for that day
In-Person extra-curricular activities will be cancelled unless road conditions improve enough to hold the activity
Bristol Public Schools also announced that it will move to Remote Learning Days instead of snow days. The district sent a letter to families on Wednesday that said the district will notify families and staff the night before a possible school closure due to weather and will announce a Remote Learning Day.
While Glastonbury and Bristol will not have traditional snow days, Region 6 and Litchfield Public Schools Superintendent Christopher Leone said his district will have two guaranteed snow days.
“I think we all need to pause and reflect and remember what it was like to be a child,” Leone said. “In a time of great uncertainty providing some normalcy towards our kids is essential.”
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