It was the 26th of January and many woke up to see a layer of white covering the scenery all around. Plow trucks drove through the streets trying to clear them. Meanwhile, many were outside either playing in the snow or trying to clear their snow covered driveways.
The snowstorm on the 26th of January caused two snow days to happen due to the 23ish inches of snow.. Snow days are something many students wish for during the winter season. However for each snow day gained, the end of school increases by 1 day. Which means after the 4 snow days that have happened we will now end on the 18th of June. For many it’s a pleasant surprise whether it be a day to have fun or an extra day to study for a test. The Triton Voice dug into how snow days are called, and whether students and teachers would rather have a snow day or end earlier in the spring.
How is the call made?
The call for a snow day is dependent on the safety of students. The school has to clear the parking lots and make sure that there are paths for students in case of an emergency. Another factor that goes into the call is the state of areas like Salisbury Beach and Plum Island, which can get closed off due to high tides during brutal storms.
If a majority of students and staff can’t get to school, then a snow day is called. If some of the staff and students can’t make it in, their absences are waived. It’s stressful for Superintendent Brian Forget to make the right call.
“It is so stressful trying to figure out if I make the right call at the end of the day,” said Forget. “If I say there’s no school there are people who are going to say oh come on things were safe enough. I couldn’t get to work because you know I have young children. If I do call it and then you know it’s unsafe then I’m putting people’s lives at risk”
“we don’t make excuse me I don’t make a call until the day of and so I usually get up 3:30 or so 4:00 watch the weather we have a Weather Service it’s an app called Clarity Weather Service and we have access to meteorologists and so if you start messaging with them right away and ask you know the information we’re seeing in the app is specific and it looks accurate as far as timing”
There are so many factors that come into play. If it’s a snowstorm that’s going to be done and we have enough time to clear out the school versus the time to clear out the town roads but ultimately the decision comes down to “is the school safe?”.
Student and teacher thoughts
When asked about his thoughts, technology teacher Mr. Matthew Guerin responded that having snow days makes sense and that it’s important for people to be safe on the roads. However from a more personal standpoint Mr. Guerin enjoys having snow days and has fond memories of them
“I have many fun memories from when I grew up not far from here. I grew up in Hampton, New Hampshire, so I’ve had my fair share of snow.”
“I remember going out and doing something with my friends, you know, maybe like playing football in the snow or making snowmen or just going out into the woods. Sometimes if we get enough snow, we would like to climb up a tree and jump off the tree and land in the snow. Many fun memories of snow days.”
Junior Noah Collins loves a good snow day. When asked about whether he would rather have a large amount of snow days or get out early he responded that 4-5 days is around the sweet spot of snow days.
“Like you have a significant amount of days that you get to just like stay home in the snow but it doesn’t add like an entire week or something on to the end of the school year like you’re not going back for two extra Mondays because you got six or seven snow days.”
Senior Daniel Jones also enjoys snow days.
“I’d love as many snow days as possible,” said Jones. “My only real caveat is that I am going to be taking AP tests and I would like more time to learn all the material for the AP test so I do well, but other than that I just want to enjoy my time and be able to spend as much time doing you know my own hobbies and projects so as many snow days as possible with my general consensus .”
