School leaders around the country are tearing up their calendars to cram in more teaching time after extreme numbers of weather cancellations. Some are eliminating holiday breaks and professional development plans, adding minutes and days to the school clock or even cutting recess and opening school on Saturdays.This could be the snow day of the not-too-distant future. As much as students love them, school officials loathe calamity cancellations, those days off caused by snowstorms, hurricanes, illness outbreaks or power outages. They cost time and money, disrupt the flow of learning and leave parents in a lurch. But a few are trying something different: virtual school days that continue learning, even while staff and students are stuck at home.
Reading this, I can only hope our administrators don't get any ideas. It seems like a viable plan, but one of the challenges mentioned was that not all of the student could have access to technology, which would be a huge obstacle in Dallas. This article was aimed mostly at Northern school where they see a lot of snow and often have to close due to inclement weather. I wouldn't think Dallas ISD would ever be pushed to such measures.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/23/living/snow-days-virtual-schools/index.html?hpt=us_c2
I honestly think no one in DISD would even attempt to do the online schooling...and what about the households with multiple students in different grades? In my house we only have one computer. How would that work out if we all have to be "in school" at the same time?
ReplyDeleteIt seems like a reasonable idea until you put it into an everyday context. Anyway, I highly doubt that DISD would feel such a measure is necessary since we don't get nearly as many snow days as northern schools
ReplyDelete