SNOW-DAY ORDER KEEPS SCHOOL RITUAL ALIVE

Since the coronavirus pandemic upended her school district in early March, a West Virginia superintendent has received hundreds of calls from students, parents and staff members mourning what they can no longer have: prom, homecoming, a proper graduation, full classrooms.

As Bondy Shay Gibson put it, “all of those things that make school wonderful, all of these rites of passage.”

So, with the first blanket of snow expected to cover her district on Wednesday, the Jefferson County Schools superintendent decided that her nearly 9,000 students shouldn’t miss out on one more experience. Despite many students’ virtual class schedule, she canceled all classes in an emotional letter pleading with families to enjoy the experience.

“It has been a year of seemingly endless loss and the stress of trying to make up for that loss,” Gibson wrote on Tuesday. “For just a moment, we can all let go of the worry of making up for the many things we missed by making sure this is one thing our kids won’t lose this year.”

Gibson’s announcement tapped a nerve for many, going viral on social media, bringing some to tears and prompting others to cancel their original plans to take advantage of the snow day. One superintendent in Pennsylvania was so moved that she also gave her students and staff part of the day off.

Gibson said she’s been overwhelmed by the response, but she understands why her order connected.

“People are hungry for some joy. They want to see a light at the end of this tunnel,” Gibson told The Washington Post. “Some of that heaviness was suspended for just a day.”

Snow days, for many students, have been yet another casualty of the pandemic as districts try to make up for days missed earlier this year when schools struggled to adapt to online learning. In New York City, which saw up to 6 inches of snow on Wednesday, Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio declined to cancel classes, announcing that the nation’s largest school district would have a “FULL REMOTE learning day.”

Others had already vowed to continue the ritual amid the pandemic. In October, one New Jersey school district announced it would still allow children to take advantage of snow days, noting that it was a chance for students “to just be kids by playing in the snow, baking cookies, reading books and watching a good movie.”

Gibson, who has been in charge of the district in Charles Town, W.VA., for six years, is used to making tough decisions about whether to heed weather warnings. But in this case, she said, it was an easy call.

“This was one thing that we could give them,” Gibson, 51, told The Post. “When you lose so much, it makes the things you have so much more precious.”

So on Monday, when forecasts made it clear her district would be hit with severe winter weather, Gibson drafted the letter in less than 30 minutes. The announcement encouraged students and their parents to take full advantage.

“Please, enjoy a day of sledding and hot chocolate and cozy fires,” Gibson wrote. “Take pictures of your kids in snow hats they will outgrow by next year and read books that you have wanted to lose yourself in, but haven’t had the time.”

She ended by noting that “we will return to the serious and urgent business of growing up on Thursday, but for tomorrow ... go build a snowman.”

Soon after she sent the letter on Tuesday, community members and complete strangers began commenting on the district’s social media page, praising the “genuine and heartfelt” letter.