An onslaught of four major snow storms just one week apart from each other in January has Walpole High students facing the prospect of four additional days added to the end of their school year in June, and is wreaking havoc on sports schedules and lesson plans. The regular occurrence of storms caused many sporting events during the month to be rescheduled, and teachers, especially those teaching seniors, are being forced to make significant reconfigurations to their scheduled lessons. The attitude among students to the high number of snow days is mixed, as most underclassmen are partly excited while also upset that they will be forced to make up more days in June. On the other hand, seniors, who do not have to make up any snow days this year, are generally pleased with the number of days off they got this January that will not have to be added to their school year.
Senior Julia Connell said she likes snow days, and would feel the same way even if she was an underclassmen, and did not have to make those days up in June. “I’ve always said that I liked snow days,” Connell said. “You get a break in the winter, a day off when normally you would have five straight weeks of school without a day off,” she said. Senior Alex Ordway said she too thinks snow days are good, but sympathized with underclassmen who will have to make the days up. “At the end of the year I would be upset about it,” she said.
Underclassmen, even though all will have to make this year’s snow days up in June, mostly agreed that snow days are good when they occur, and do not mind making them up. Junior Jenna Harrop said she has no problem with this year’s unusual number of snow days. “I don’t really mind them, because we’re still getting out early,” Harrop said. Indeed, the school year started earlier than some previous years, and December vacation was somewhat shorter than it has been in previous years. As such, Walpole students were originally scheduled to end school on June 14, which is earlier than
it has been in the past. The four snow days that have occurred this year, however, have pushed that end date to June 20, which is still relatively early in comparison to past years. Freshman Ashley Waldron somewhat differed with Harrop and said she likes having snow days, but the prospect of staying later in June is unfortunate. “I don’t want to stay in during the summer,” she said. Waldron said her feelings about snow days are, like most other students, generally both happy and sad, because while she likes them at the time they can be hard to accept at the end of the year.
Athletic Director Bill Tompkins said the abnormally snowy winter so far has luckily had only a small effect on the school’s many sports teams. But Tompkins said he and his coaches have persevered to the best of their ability even with the extreme weather. “It is New England, and it is winter,” Tompkins pointed out. He credited the Walpole DPW for being excellent at plowing during and after the storms, which has enabled the school to continue to hold sporting events when they may otherwise be canceled or postponed. He said scheduling makeup games can be difficult, but he has not seen any serious problems. “Fortunately, we have been able to make up most of the dates,” Tompkins said.
For teachers, especially those who teach seniors, the numerous storms have affected their classes significantly. English teacher Lauren Culliton teaches a senior AP English course and said the snow days this year are preventing her from maintaining consistent lesson plans. “It is very difficult, in teaching, to get momentum,” Culliton said, alluding to the interruptions snow days can cause. As a senior AP teacher, she said classes that are missed will negatively impact her students tremendously, as students will have to take the AP exam at the end of the year and if even one class is missed and not made up, it translates into less time for students to understand the material being taught. With four missed days already, the lost learning time is quickly adding up.
Culliton said having such a high number of snow days so early in the winter this year worries her. “It makes me nervous, because we’re only in February,” she said. Culliton predicted that by the time the winter has ended, the last day of the year will have been pushed to June 22, a full six days after the originally-scheduled last day of school. She said that she generally does not like snow days, because she prefers a long, relaxing summer. “I would rather be home in June than January,” she said.
While other school districts have suggested that the high number of snow days this year may result in school days being made up during previously-scheduled vacation weeks, School Superintendent Lincoln Lynch said he does not foresee students having to make up snow days by going to school during their February or April vacation. Like Culliton though, he said that the high number so early in the year is cause for some concern. “Four [snow days] is unusual, and we may not be done yet,” he said. He said the last time he can remember working in a school district where there as many as four snow days was in 1994, when he was an Assistant Superintendent in Auburn. But Lynch said that the abnormal number of snow days that have occurred this year are not necessarily problematic. Because the school year began before Labor Day, there is ample space in late June for additional school days. “We designed the calendar so we would have a lot of flexibility at the end of the school year, and now it’s paying off,” he said. Lynch said that he hopes there are no more snow days this year, because continuing school in the summer can be hard. “I hope there isn’t a lot of heat in June, because the schools aren’t air-conditioned,” he said.
Lynch denied a continued rampant rumor that seniors will have to make up snow days if there are more than a certain number this year or that graduation day will have to be moved. He cited a memo sent this month from State Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester stating that neither graduation itself nor the last day of school for seniors have to be rescheduled due to any number of snow days as long as they have been originally scheduled no more than twelve school days before the originally scheduled school closing date. Since Walpole’s graduation is scheduled for June 5, it is well within the 12 day limit of the originally scheduled closing date of June 14. Lynch said that while that policy may be seen as great for seniors, he knows how difficult it can be for teachers to work around the missed days. “It is time out of learning,” Lynch said.
A serious problem that the town has had this year, according to Lynch, is the pace of clearing of sidewalks. “We get complaints about the sidewalks,” he said. In an email sent out to parents last week, Lynch explained that the record snow fall combined with a lack of melting has caused many of the town’s 70 miles of sidewalks to essentially turn into ice blocks. The town’s sidewalk plows are having a difficult time clearing the sidewalks as a result. Complaints from parents regarding sidewalk conditions are compiled and then forwarded to the DPW for action. But he noted in his email, “parents should be cautioned not to expect 100% of the sidewalks to be clear.” After all, Lynch said, schools must still be in session even if the sidewalks are not in good condition. “If I waited for every sidewalk to be clear, we’d never have school,” he said.
With only a little more than a month left to go until spring arrives, Walpole students and staff are wondering whether winter will be delivering more snowy surprises in the weeks to come, or whether the worst has now passed. The iconic Pennsylvania groundhog Punxsutawney Phil predicted on Groundhog Day this year that winter would be short this year. But it was hard for Walpole students to take Phil’s prediction seriously when ironically Groundhog Day this year brought another snow day for Walpole students. Only time will tell whether more snow days will come before winter ends.
