In Millard, there are three options that the head of the district has to call in bad weather: a remote learning day, a late start or a cancelled day. I believe that remote learning days are the most unimportant of them all because it is basically in between them both and in my opinion don’t really help me learn new things.

According to the Millard website, these remote days will have no Zooms. The district website says “You may do the work on your own time at your own pace.” While that is a nice thought, this is a little confusing because most students and teachers know how to operate Zoom because everyone in the district had to use it last year. 

In my opinion it just makes more sense for everyone to be Zooming in if we are going fully remote. It seems like the district was reaching for something in between late starts and cancellations of school days. However, I think this idea was just that, a reach.

Lots of students think that the work is optional because there are no Zooms, or they just choose not to do it. Assignments that I’ve been given were either pieces of work that just seemed to be filler work (things that aren’t super important to the class) or to continue working on things we have done in class. This is because overall, at least in my classes the work given to students doesn’t seem to be detrimental to the class.

The idea of remote learning snow days is good, however the actual execution of it is pretty poor. I think it would be better to just continue with cancellations and late starts because these remote learning days are anything but productive.

Also, lots of people love snow days because they get the chance to do a lot more fun things like going out in the snow, drinking hot chocolate or just getting a chance to spend time with family. Many people spend time with their families who might also be off. It gives students, teachers and staff a break that lots of people really enjoy because they are able to complete more recreational activities.

On a brighter note, it is nice that students will be given another day to complete the assignments. Like it says on the Millard website you can never know someone’s situation at home during these times. I also do like that these days won’t have much work and should take less than half a traditional day. However, this just means that more students won’t take the work given to them seriously and might think they don’t really have to do it

Another great thing is that remote learning days in lieu of snow days means the district does not have to add more days to the end of the year. This way Millard won’t have to continue really far into summer like previous years.

I think the district should just get rid of these days and completely close but if the district feels Millard students absolutely need to be remote learning, I would just add Zooms to make these days more prodtive. Everyone in the district should know how to work it and if there is going to be work, it would be nice to be able to actually learn from the teachers and ask questions. If not this, then just cancel the school day because then everyone would get a nice break and would be able to resume lessons later on.