Did you know that, by January 31, Minnesota has already had more snow than the average snowfall per year?

According to the Minnesota Department of National Resources, as of February 6, we already have over 55 inches of snow. That’s more than the state got all of the last snow season, from October 2021 to April of 2022. And we only get one true “snow day” from it.

In an email sent out to the student body on our one snow day this year, a document was included that contains the protocols for snow days. That document states: “Students, parents/guardians, and employees are notified via text and email of school cancellation.

The first time school is canceled during the school year, it is considered a true “snow day” with no school-related obligations or additional independent work or homework. For any additional canceled school days, we will have an asynchronous “at home” school day.” 

Charlie Moore ‘25 is one of the many students that disagree with this rule. He claims that “[it’s not necessarily a good rule] because if there are a few days in a row where it’s too dangerous to drive, I don’t think it’s good that we only have one day, one snow day. There could be a few days in a row where it’s too dangerous to drive but if we’ve already used that snow day then you’ve gotta force the students to go out into dangerous weather.” Moore also thinks that breaks are good for students: “I think this time is the best time for the four-day weeks because, coming off winter break, people like miss having that time off, so having four day weeks sprinkled in are good because it gives people breaks, easing them back in.”

Forum representative Kaylee Chen ‘25 agrees that we need more snow days. She added, “I think that’s a weird rule. We’ve talked about this a lot, but Blake has a stricter rule on snow days than a lot of schools… we’ll get really late notices. Like, Blake doesn’t want to give a snow day…From an administration point of view, because we live in Minnesota, I can see them not wanting kids to miss a lot of school. I also think it’s like a drag, online school, I don’t know how effective that is. You might as well give students that one day to catch up on work… you’re still equally giving them work.”

She mentioned that if enough students want a schedule change, then Forum can talk to Joe Ruggiero about potentially implementing that. “Probably we would have to come up with a proposal, like a reason why we should have more than one snow day, and what’s the benefit of not putting a limit or restriction on that. It’s definitely something we can start a conversation about.”

Lina Jin, who teaches four sections of Chinese, argues that there is no true solution. She aruges, “[between a half day and an asynchronous day] To me, neither works that well. When students are at home, the students get all distracted and I don’t think it’s a good thing for students to do. Also, a half day every class is so short, and as a teacher we don’t get to cover as much. Also, all the students are in a mood where they are like ‘oh, it’s so short. Let’s have some fun and get out of school.’ To me, neither works that well.” On the current system, she says “If we don’t have any better options, of course [it works].”