On Wednesday, Feb. 12, GDS closed after over five inches of snow blanketed the D.C. area the previous night. Because Wednesday’s snow day exceeded the school’s inclement weather policy limit of two class-free snow days per year, classes were held virtually on Zoom. The two previous snow days were on Monday, Jan. 6 and Tuesday, Jan. 7.
Earlier in the week, on Monday, Assistant Principal for School Life Quinn Killy sent students a schedule for virtual school in preparation for a possible snow day later in the week. On Tuesday, in response to the forecasted snowstorm that evening, buses departed 45 minutes early at 3 p.m. and the school shut at 4 p.m. Sports and club meetings were also canceled.
On Wednesday, classes began at 10 a.m. and were one hour each, in contrast to their typical length of 70 minutes. The school required all students to log on to their Zoom classes with their cameras on for the first 15 minutes of each class. After those 15 minutes, students could leave the call if their teachers assigned them independent work.
Ten of the 11 students interviewed by the Bit said they learned less during their virtual classes than in-person classes. Only two of the 11 said they would rather attend a makeup day later in the year instead of a virtual snow day. None of the students interviewed said that all of their classes lasted an hour as scheduled.
Senior Isaac Seiken said most of his classes were ineffective because the majority of them ended early. “I don’t think students were very engaged,” he said. Seiken said the virtual format of Zoom also lessened the quality of his classes.
Freshman Jack Gresens liked the virtual snow day because it helped him be more attentive. “There weren’t as many side conversations and distractions,” he said. “I felt more focused and more relaxed.”
Several students said virtual school lacked the spirited environment of in-person school. “School online is just not as fun. It was all the work without any of the fun parts,” junior Arohi Narayan said. She also said her classes were less engaging than normal and preferred a make-up day be added to the end of the school year.
GDS’ current Inclement Weather Policy replaces a previous policy of holding make-up days that cut into vacation. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic years, GDS shortened spring break to compensate for winters with many snow days. When that policy was in effect, students often skipped the make-up days for spring break trips. (Assistant Principal for School Life Quinn Killy was not available for comment on the policy prior to publication of this article.) D.C. Public Schools had no classes on Wednesday and face the possibility of make-up days that extend the end of the school year.
“I didn’t learn anything,” Sophomore Mason Bronner said. He found the day to be unnecessary and unproductive because of the virtual classes. He also preferred an additional makeup day.
Senior Emerson Hardwick said she thought that although virtual school was less effective than in-person school, she “would prefer to do virtual school than to cut into our summer.”
Freshman Maddy Bayard preferred the virtual snow day to the virtual days of COVID-19. “It feels a lot better being on virtual school when it’s not Covid,” she said. While she did not like attending virtual school during the pandemic for months at a time, she said “a day feels like nothing.”
Math teacher Lee Goldman had to reschedule a test because of the snow day. “I wasn’t going to give a test over Zoom. So I went ahead to the next thing,” she said. Although she thought the lessons she taught over Zoom were not as comprehensive as in-person classes would have been, she said that virtual school minimally impacted her classes.
While the majority of students interviewed by the Bit preferred to attend in-person classes, most were also happy that they got to enjoy the snow from home. “It was better than being in school while it was snowing,” Bayard said. “I really liked it.”