Sorry Kids. District Says No Snow Days During Upcoming Storm in SE Michigan

Snow days have always meant sleeping in, bundling up and playing outside, and having tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch. But one school district in Southeast Michigan is putting the kibosh on that tradition and plans to switch kids over to virtual learning if this week's impending snowstorm warrants schools to close.

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The Detroit Public Schools Community District says it has already exhausted the six days that were allotted for snow days. Shutting down schools because of bad weather now will mean tacking days onto the end of the school year.

Kids Have Lost a Lot of 'Seat Time'

Lakia Wilson-Lumpkins is the executive vice president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers. She tells Fox 2 that kids in the district have already lost a great deal of classroom time because of staff shortages and COVID-19 outbreaks.

"Hopefully after we emerge from this pandemic and we don’t have that threat of losing seat time and days because of low attendance, that we will be able to go back to where we enjoy those snow days, she says.

Flint schools, on the other hand, have declared that they will honor the 'tradition' of giving kids snow days in the event of bad weather.

New Bill Could Change Schools' Snow Day Policies

Michigan State Rep. Pamela Hornberger is the chairperson of the House Education Committee. She says she's working on legislation that would allow schools more flexibility to start school earlier in the year, therefore eliminating the "snow day end of the year crunch."

"I do have a bill, it's actually my bill, to do away with phased school start date so that schools can start prior to Labor Day," she said. "[It] allows schools the flexibility to start anytime."

She adds that schools that are going back and forth between virtual and in-person learning are doing their students a disservice.