As a parent, I'm not sure I understand how this could work.

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I'm old school. I see an education happening in a classroom. Sure, there's a whole other education that happens outside the classroom; but, the traditional "readin, writin' and 'rythmatic" happens in a classroom.

Snow Days, traditionally are for shoveling, snowball fights and binge-watching Netflix.

Now that Blizzardopia is behind us, there's a new bill in the Minnesota Legislature that could change Snow Days as we know them. A Snow Day would become an e-learning day. Students would still have class and school work. It would be done remotely, at home on a computer or tablet. Students would be in touch with their teachers by e-mail or phone. There is even a plan in place to accommodate students without internet or access to digital devices.

It makes sense. We have the technology. My kids have their own e-mail; they have a way to communicate with their teachers. Two school districts have already used an e-learning day. Farmington and Minnehaha Academy.

Kudos to Representative Steve Drazkowski for introducing the bill. It's really thinking outside the box of a classroom. He says, “It would allow schools to use up to five e-learning days, or five snow days as e-learning days, anytime throughout the year at the discretion of the school board,”

Supporters, like Drazkowski, say that the bill will save schools money. As a parent, I see where this would need to lead to an almost complete re-education in how schoolwork is approached. And that's not a bad thing. I'm sure most parents support and re-enforce classwork at home. Students, especially younger students, will need to see that work can be done at home as well as in a classroom.

The bill was just introduced last week and will now go to the House Education Innovation Policy Committee.

As a parent, would you be glad or sad to see snow days become e-learning days?

We're going to be heading into the next Sylvan Learning Cool Classroom! Nominate a hard-working teacher here!

 

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