End of (snow) days

I called this one.

Because everyone in my family was teaching and/or learning remotely for much of this academic year, we spent six months (mid-August to mid-February) in the Philly suburbs. We experienced the snowiest Philly winter in about a decade, with three major (6"+) snowstorms and 2-3 snow days. While taking a family walk in the snow, I wondered whether the year of remote learning signaled the end of the snow day--schools would shift to remote learning on those days in which weather prevents students and teachers from getting to the building.

New York City announced the elimination of snow days for the 2021-22 academic year, continuing the practice of the past year for many school districts. It made sense this year, when many schools were doing an in-person/remote hybrid; if half the school would have been remote, it made sense to make everyone remote for the day. But presuming schools are back to normal and everyone is in-person next year, this represents a major change, shifting the entire school from in-person to remote for the day. The arguments for this are clear--eliminating snow days gives the district control over the academic calendar and avoids the risk of the school year running (in the northeast) into late June. The arguments against it sound in nostalgia for the snow days of our youth.

In Miami, we do not have snow days, we have hurricane days. Eliminating these off-days is not an option, because a storm severe enough to close schools likely knocked out power and internet for teachers and students. On the other hand, kids cannot go out and play in the hurricane or its aftermath, so no one misses anything fun.