Will snow days be a casualty of COVID-19?
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With all of the money invested by schools into distance learning technologies and building synchronous and asynchronous classrooms, will districts still shut everything down for a snow storm or will they just go virtual for the day? With everything businesses and workplaces have learned about telework will they shut down or go online?
I fear the latter, and that will be a shame.
The Brad
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With all of the money invested by schools into distance learning technologies and building synchronous and asynchronous classrooms, will districts still shut everything down for a snow storm or will they just go virtual for the day? With everything businesses and workplaces have learned about telework will they shut down or go online?
I fear the latter, and that will be a shame.
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I think it partly depends on regulations. They need to be able to count that remote day as a school day for state and federal funding.
But even then it will be spotty. Many districts have to deal with inadequate home IT among a portion of its students. Last spring it took weeks and lots of $ to fix that.
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Interesting.
In my district they already had laptops for people in 6th grade and up. For younger folks they did a survey and provided them just to families that needed them.
The number of families that needed a laptop surprised me at first, but then if you have three kids and one family PC that doesn’t cut it.
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In our district last year you had to use the school provided chrome book. They don’t want some kids to have an unfair advantage using better gear. It looks like they are loosening up on that policy this fall.
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@LuFins-Dad In laws in Northern New Hampshire say they’ve been doing it that way for several years. Makes sense.
@Rich said in Will snow days be a casualty of COVID-19?:
@LuFins-Dad In laws in Northern New Hampshire say they’ve been doing it that way for several years. Makes sense.
I find that sad. While I appreciate the hardships snowstorms cause, there is a value to nature causing a time out. Some of my fondest memories are days spent playing with Lucas in the snow after a massive storm shut everything down, then warming up over a cup of coffee or cocoa snuggling on the couch with Karla. A pot of chili staying warm and ready to serve on the stove all day, and going outside and working with my neighbors to clear walks and cars for the elderly and infirm. Normally while we are doing this, a lot of the neighborhood wives will start bringing out soups and chilis with coffee, soon the coffee disappears and we are sharing whiskey and brandy. It becomes a potluck neighborhood party...
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Agreed @LuFins-Dad , snow days were also some of my best memories as a kid. I liked how you described it, too.
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@jon-nyc said in Will snow days be a casualty of COVID-19?:
How far down does laptop distribution go? Do first graders get laptops?
Not to pull this card, because I know some here might (wink) be older than me (I'm 38), but I remember in 6th grade when I started seeing "lab" rooms (usually one per school) where there were Macintosh desktops to do special projects, such as using the word processor (or playing Oregon Trail), and vividly remember a teacher saying "One day, there will be computers in every classroom" and thinking "That is SUCH a weird thing to imagine..." but now look at it, laptops/ipads not only in school but being given to kids to take home.
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For me by high school there was a 'computer club' that met after school. I imagine it had a couple of PCs or earlier devices (Commodore 64 for example). It may have only had one. I wasn't part of it so I'm not sure.
I was of the first generation of kids that got hobbyist machines at home. I had a timex/sinclair Z80 when I was 12 or 13, which was upgraded to a Commodore Vic20 a couple years later.
You were warned.
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For me by high school there was a 'computer club' that met after school. I imagine it had a couple of PCs or earlier devices (Commodore 64 for example). It may have only had one. I wasn't part of it so I'm not sure.
I was of the first generation of kids that got hobbyist machines at home. I had a timex/sinclair Z80 when I was 12 or 13, which was upgraded to a Commodore Vic20 a couple years later.
@jon-nyc said in Will snow days be a casualty of COVID-19?:
For me by high school there was a 'computer club' that met after school. I imagine it had a couple of PCs or earlier devices (Commodore 64 for example). It may have only had one. I wasn't part of it so I'm not sure.
I was of the first generation of kids that got hobbyist machines at home. I had a timex/sinclair Z80 when I was 12 or 13, which was upgraded to a Commodore Vic20 a couple years later.
My Computer Applications class in high school had to spend the last third of our semester learning about computers from reading books. Because I and some friends of mine downloaded Quake on some of the computers and started playing some LAN games. But I also had the wherewithal to download a keylogger, knowing they'd change admin privileges after they figured out what we did.
They did, and I kept getting the passwords. So I'd reinstall Quake on my friend's machines. After a few days of this, I also changed the admin passwords for the lab so the teachers no longer had access.
This was probably a bit too far. They brought in an IT professional and even some freaking Sheriff's Deputy for some damn reason to look into this and fix the computers. Then we were all hauled into the principal's office, one by one, so that they could interrogate us.
To this day I find it amazing that no one ratted me out.
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I'm impressed. In 7th grade my class took popsicles out of the fridge in our Home Economics class. My friends gave me (and another person) up as the "leader" and I was suspended for 1 day.
What's funny, and I never thought about this until now, but had that not happened, I wouldn't have switched middle schools in 8th grade, therefore wouldn't have gone to the high school I ended up going to, meeting Brett (you know him, Aqua), going to the same university etc........aka never would've been on TNCR or married my wife, or had my current job.
All because of that popsicle.
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I'm impressed. In 7th grade my class took popsicles out of the fridge in our Home Economics class. My friends gave me (and another person) up as the "leader" and I was suspended for 1 day.
What's funny, and I never thought about this until now, but had that not happened, I wouldn't have switched middle schools in 8th grade, therefore wouldn't have gone to the high school I ended up going to, meeting Brett (you know him, Aqua), going to the same university etc........aka never would've been on TNCR or married my wife, or had my current job.
All because of that popsicle.
@89th said in Will snow days be a casualty of COVID-19?:
I'm impressed. In 7th grade my class took popsicles out of the fridge in our Home Economics class. My friends gave me (and another person) up as the "leader" and I was suspended for 1 day.
What's funny, and I never thought about this until now, but had that not happened, I wouldn't have switched middle schools in 8th grade, therefore wouldn't have gone to the high school I ended up going to, meeting Brett (you know him, Aqua), going to the same university etc........aka never would've been on TNCR or married my wife, or had my current job.
All because of that popsicle.
What flavor was yours?
Please love yourself.
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I never had a single day off due to weather in my entire time at school. If I wanted a day off I had to carefully shake the thermometer so that it indicated 102 degrees. I was pretty damn good at it.
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@89th said in Will snow days be a casualty of COVID-19?:
I'm impressed. In 7th grade my class took popsicles out of the fridge in our Home Economics class. My friends gave me (and another person) up as the "leader" and I was suspended for 1 day.
What's funny, and I never thought about this until now, but had that not happened, I wouldn't have switched middle schools in 8th grade, therefore wouldn't have gone to the high school I ended up going to, meeting Brett (you know him, Aqua), going to the same university etc........aka never would've been on TNCR or married my wife, or had my current job.
All because of that popsicle.
What flavor was yours?
@Aqua-Letifer said in Will snow days be a casualty of COVID-19?:
@89th said in Will snow days be a casualty of COVID-19?:
I'm impressed. In 7th grade my class took popsicles out of the fridge in our Home Economics class. My friends gave me (and another person) up as the "leader" and I was suspended for 1 day.
What's funny, and I never thought about this until now, but had that not happened, I wouldn't have switched middle schools in 8th grade, therefore wouldn't have gone to the high school I ended up going to, meeting Brett (you know him, Aqua), going to the same university etc........aka never would've been on TNCR or married my wife, or had my current job.
All because of that popsicle.
What flavor was yours?
Fudge, I think.
