In February, more than 10.5 inches of snow was dumped all throughout the Omaha metro area. As a result of all of this snow, as well as freezing rain, school districts have had to make many decisions on student safety and cancelling school. 

So far this calendar year, Millard Public Schools has had to call six snow days. With a schedule that allows for four built-in days for potential bad weather, Millard has exceeded the limit, leaving them to figure out a new way to battle the weather and keep students learning. 

“We chose to start doing E-learning because we feel that it provides extra instruction and practice,” principal Greg Tiemann said. “We don’t want students to have to come back and review something they learned two days ago.”

Many other school districts in other states have also run into this issue. Most of the schools have turned to a new way to spend their snow days. They use E-learning which allows students to get any classwork or instructions from their teacher online. Teachers have been using this on snow days because it counts for a full school day. Using this tactic means that they won’t have to add days onto the end of the year.

“I think that E-learning is a great option for schools to use,” librarian Katy Nilsson said. “I believe that there is a good portion of students that would take advantage of that option knowing that they would not have to makeup the days.”

E-learning is an online way for teachers to teach a lesson to their students when they aren’t able to be in the classroom. They are able to upload worksheets and video lectures online so students are able to work at home. On days that are called off due to the weather, students are then able to learn the lesson and work at home. Districts all over the country have used this to make the school year more organized.

“Making up snow days at the end of the year isn’t as beneficial as doing E-learning,” Tiemann said. “Students making up a class in May isn’t going to make up for the learning that they lost on a snow day.”

E-learning provides many benefits to students and teachers. First of all, this means that students and staff would not have to makeup the day at the end of the year. Students will also be able to work at their own pace. They can get their work done faster and they can do it whenever they want. Students will also be able to repeat lectures if they don’t understand it the first time. E-learning has become very popular do to these benefits.

“The superintendent and I visited a school in Illinois that does E-learning for all snow days,” Tiemann said. “The students and staff all like the idea of E-learning. Elearning has become a trend around the country, and I am excited for the superintendent to look into the idea more.”