Parents turn to Facebook groups for snow day info. Maybe it’s time for a new system? | Opinion
Nikki Pauls of Overland Park recognizes not everyone can work from home like her and her husband. It makes for generally enjoyable snow days with their kids.
Still for Pauls, a college professor, it can take some planning. Like the time the school year ended earlier because they didn’t use all their snow days.
“I have learned to be flexible and make summer camp plans accordingly. But it was a shock to me the first year my oldest was in school and they moved the last day of school up two days!”
Welcome to the mathematics of snow day policies and makeup days.
Not using all snow days seems miles away from what we’ve experienced so far in 2025. From traditional off days to virtual alternative methods of instruction (or AMIs), policies vary from district to district in the metro area so I won’t even try to explain them all.
Parents often have questions. Here’s one more:
Should we overhaul the way schools treat winter storm days?
Bear with me here:
- Should we scrap policies all together and just let students be out when needed, paying the price in summer?
- What about canceling spring break and going to school straight from January to June?
- Or should schools treat AMIs as the answer to all weather days, meaning no more traditional days off in snow?
There’s no easy answer, especially when so many different districts have so many different policies, and when teacher contracts are involved. David Price, president of the Kansas City Federation of Teachers and School Related Personnel, explained that collective bargaining can limit some of these possibilities in Kansas City public schools.
“We have 189 work days. And so that does kind of limit the calendar for student days because all of our student days have to fit into the teachers’ work year.”
Price believes messaging to parents is important.
“It can get very complicated with communication. And so we have worked over the years to try to streamline that to make it easier for people so families understand what is expected of the students and teachers understand what they’re supposed to do.”
Understanding what to do ahead of weather is why thousands of people have joined the KC Snow Day Prediction Club public Facebook group. A few recent posts:
“Let’s admit it. We barely got any snow. I am definitely expecting a regular school day tomorrow.”
“I’m wondering, because wind chills at 5am will be -5.”
“I feel like there have been a lot of rumors this year about what (days) they will and won’t forgive.”
“I’d rather not have days off since they are getting added after Memorial Day and will affect summer school starting.”
And one more asked if the group was all “snowdayed out.”
Pauls is a member of the Facebook group. “I joined the group last year in hopes of getting a jump on preparations for upcoming snow days. The group allows members to quickly see trends with public district snow day decisions.”
Pauls realizes that snow days are a fact of life in the Midwest. “Obviously we need to have snow days, to ensure basic safety of teachers and students. However, it is a position of privilege in individual families to be able to make needed accommodations for snow days.”
She says every family doesn’t have a retired grandmother or aunt to drop her plans and care for the children home on a snow day. Even more importantly, she says, “not every parent has the ability to feed their children lunch on a day they planned for their child to get lunch from school from the federal free and reduced lunch program.”
Price has a possible solution to use more virtual days. In Kansas City public schools, elementary and high school students have iPads or laptops. However, unlike the high schoolers, elementary school students can’t take theirs home.
“And if we could start sending those home, that could make a huge difference. … It could be actual lessons from the curriculum still being utilized by the students while they’re at home, which would not make it a wasted day.”
Price said there are lots of reasons younger students aren’t expected to keep up with technology but he thinks it could work. “It’s a really hard transition to start that. But once you start something, it becomes kind of normalized and that’s just what it is.”
In her Kansas district, Pauls said she has seen a positive change to calling a snow day.
“I have had a child in public school since 2014, and I very much appreciate the newer approach to call snow days the night before, if possible, to allow parents more time to make plans. Rather than scrambling to drive the child to grandma’s house in the morning during a heavy snowfall, perhaps the family can pick grandma up the night before and can be set for the next day.”
And Price thinks his district’s policies work pretty well for his teachers, but things can change suddenly. Like last week.
“When we had the ice hit us all of a sudden, that caused all sorts of issues because some of the buses were already rolling and their kids had gotten picked up. In a lot of the high schools, the staff already were on their way to work and then we called it late. And so those are kind of the messier situations.”
Whether or not we get a ton of the white stuff, temps will be very cold for a day or so, affecting school openings. Stay safe and warm, folks.
This story was originally published February 12, 2025 at 5:08 AM.
