In New England, there’s no telling what the winter will bring us this year. We could be wearing flip flops and tank tops on Christmas, or rocking some new ski jackets. Let’s pray for the latter and hope Mother Nature brings us some good old fashioned snow- and the snow days and delays that come with it.
The school handbook allows for four unexcused days off from school per term before you fail a class. Snow days allow you to have that much-needed mental health day that you might not have enough absences to take off. Even better, there’s no make up work! Everyone gets the day off, including teachers.
You get to spend an entire day catching up on sleep, catching up on shows, or even catching up on time with your friends. Aside from the possible shoveling of the driveway or walkway, the day is yours to spend without having to worry about assignments. Junior Dean Walter said, “There’s no school. And there’s snow.” What more do you need?!
Of course seniors have the extra special bonus of not having to make up snow days at the end of year, but making up snow days isn’t nearly as bad as everyone makes it seem. A break from the busy stress of school where you have a chance to get some R&R that you actually need is much more pleasant than the few extra days of summer that you most likely would have wasted watching TV or sleeping during anyways.
Despite how magnificent snow days are, delays are the definition of perfection. With delays you come into school later than the usual 7:18. One of the joys of delays are that you get an extra hour or two to sleep in or finish up that homework you were planning not to do in homeroom. With delays, you don’t have to make up any school. Classes are shortened, but some of the teachers with giant hearts don’t even make you do work in class that day anyway. Junior Katie Golden, a strong lover of delays said, “Delays are the ish. You get to sleep in, drink some hot chocolate, snuggle up, and then go and it’s like totally acceptable to dress as a bum for the little time you’re there for. I just want a lot [of delays].”
Above all, despite the opportunity they offer to sled or curl up by the fireplace, snow days and delays make sure that everyone is kept safe. Snow days don’t just give us a day to play in the snow, they also protect us from the icy roads. One day last year, instead of having a snow day, we went to school when one should have been issued. Pulling into the parking lot, cars were skidding and gliding around everywhere you turned. This year, especially since kids are fighting over parking spots because of administration not assigning them, make sure to keep your eyes open in case we aren’t rewarded with a needed snow day.
With the winter coming in close, I have just one thing to say: “Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.”