Snow Days Cause Academic Disruptions When Trying To Return From Break

It may be nice having an extra day off before returning to school, but snow days can cause a real challenge for educators.

Putnam County Schools Deputy Director Tim Martin said two snow day right after Christmas break disrupts.

“That’s a difficult thing anytime we have a snow day, and we were really hoping we wouldn’t have many snow days this year,” Martin said. “A lot of our kids are behind over the COVID and all of that anyways where we’ve had all those interruptions over the past couple years.”

Martin said as a former classroom teacher, snow seems to cause behavior issues and loss of retention. The schedule of the first week back also gets changed with teachers trying to adjust lesson plans.

“That’s very difficult,” Martin said. “You have to look at something that you think you can do that kids can either do a little work on their own or something that’s not as tied in as you might would like for it to be. But quite frankly, a lot of times you know you’re going to do something that’ll you have to go over again when you get back in school.”

While every situation is different, Martin said any academic activity at home can help smooth the transition back to the classroom.