Many school districts in Maryland have used up their snow days, and if more inclement weather shuts down schools, it could eat into summer vacation. But a bill may eliminate that problem for next year.
The bill has passed through the Maryland Senate would allow local school districts to change some of their snow days turn into virtual learning days.
Fear not: It won’t eliminate snow days entirely in the Old Line State.
“It would only apply after they’ve used up all their calendar-allocated snow days or those type of days,” said Sen. Bryan Simonaire, from Anne Arundel County, who co-sponsors the bill.
“In Anne Arundel County, we have a calendar, and you have so many snow days on it; we’ve already used up those all. And the kids are going to get out June 24. And if they get more snow days, it could be the end of June or go into July,” Simonaire said.
Senate Bill 717 would give local school systems the option to make snow days virtual learning days to avoid that situation, according to Simonaire.
“So what this would do is it gives the authority to the locals. And they would set up that their supervisor could authorize this,” he said. “It’s not a mandate.”
The bill would require students to get at least four hours of synchronous learning during these snow days and students that can’t get online would make up assignments later.
The bill now moves to the Maryland House of Delegates for approval. It would go into effect next school year.