By Sarah Skibickyj

Since COVID put schools into remote learning, everyone is used to Zoom and doing things online and this has made it so snow days are now remote learning days. This past week SUNY Oswego had a snowstorm and some classes were canceled but it was also left up to professors if they wanted to do remote learning or cancel class altogether, therefore not everyone on campus had a day off.

Everyone should have the same experience when it comes to snow day versus remote learning. If the school wanted to they could say all classes are online for the day or all classes are canceled. There might be an instance where a professor does not know how to use online platforms such as Zoom but then if that is the case they should be taught how to use it. 

It is not fair to have some students get a day off due to snow but others still have a full schedule of online classes due to different professor’s abilities.

On Friday, classes resumed in person at 10:20 a.m. which did not seem fair either. If you had a 9:10 a.m. class online but then a 10:20 a.m. in person class you had to rush to get there. It also continued to snow pretty badly that whole day so to put the cut off at 10:20 a.m. did not really do much for those students that had afternoon classes.

It makes sense that because of the conditions schools have faced during COVID-19 that online remote learning is more common and more people know how to use it. A snow day should still be considered though when the weather is severe or school administration needs to make every single class remote so every student is having the same “snow day” experience.

Having some professors cancel class and others not does not seem like the right way to be conducting classes and a schedule when given a snow day. It messes up a student’s schedule and now they have to figure out what classes they have and which they do not and on a day like Friday, Feb. 4. they might have to schedule their walk or drive to class around all their remote or canceled classes. If professors are able to stay home the whole day because the classes they teach are remote then students should be able to stay home and have all their classes online as well.

Most students would not disagree with this. College is hard and being given a day off is every college student’s dream. We were given mental health days off so being given a day off due to unsafe weather conditions does not seem like a big ask and would be helpful to students. 

One circumstance in which a school day might not be possible would be if there had already been several in the school year. For colleges it might be different but middle and high schools cannot have unlimited snow days so this would be an instance where remote learning would be a good option.

As the winter months continue hopefully there is not another snowstorm but SUNY Oswego should consider making a uniform experience across campus for all students whether that’s a day of remote learning or a day off.

Photo via Flickr