NYC Schools Ax Snow Days For 2021-22 [POLL]

NEW YORK — When the coronavirus pandemic shut down schools and forced everyone to turn to remote learning, some wondered if this was what the future might hold regarding the time-honored tradition of snow days.

This past winter, many school districts allowed children to have a day off when it snowed, but not all. Some schools kept online classes going or even had children work on their own.

School districts construct their calendars based on the state-mandated 180 days of instruction, with a certain number of snow days built in. If the number of snow days goes over that amount, then they have to be made up from somewhere else, usually taken away from scheduled breaks.

New York City announced Tuesday that its students will not be taking traditional snow days during the 2021-22 school year.

A statement from the city's Department of Education said it would "shift all students to remote instruction in lieu of cancelling schools due to severe weather conditions."

Reaction to the plan hasn't been entirely favorable.

The journalist Kurt Eichenwald tweeted that snow days made for great memories.

"Forcing kids inside while private school kids play in snow is obscene," he said. "Get ready for articles on the next snow day about bitter public school kids missing exercise & the disparity."

Michelle Goldberg, an opinion columnist for The New York Times, said she was apoplectic over the announcement.

"It seems like callousness bordering on cruelty to scrap one of childhood's greatest pleasures in favor of a rehash of pandemic life," she wrote in an op-ed titled "Save Snow Days!"

Now it's your turn to weigh in on the issue. Vote in our unscientific poll and tell us what you think in the comments.