Virtual Snow Days

Living in Michigan, the articles about virtual snow days have caught my attention this year. We have been pounded by bad weather this season, a combination of extreme low temperatures and higher than average snowfall. My kids have already missed 8 days due to bad weather, and some districts have missed more days. 

Michigan law provides many opportunities for virtual learning for K-12 students. The legislature has authorized 5 virtual charter schools and all public school students can take 2 virtual courses per marking period (Mich. Comp. Laws 388.1621f). For more flexibility, school districts can apply for students to receive seat time waivers, so they are able to receive their education without physically attending school. Yet, the Department of Education hasn't yet addressed the idea of virtual snow days. 

Are virtual snow days possible in Michigan? Probably not.

School districts are required to provide 1098 hours of instruction over at least 175 days to K-12 students. To count instructional hours for a particular building, pupils and certified teachers must be present and engaged in instruction. This instruction must be scheduled in advance and be available for the entire student population (MDE, Pupil Accounting Manual 2013). The requirement that pupils and certified teachers be "present" most likely means "physically present" because it is referring to counting hours per school building. Therefore, Michigan would have to change its Pupil Accounting Manual to allow for virtual attendance during snow days in order for this to be possible. 

As Michigan continues to develop its online educational practices, I think this is something to seriously consider as an option to allow students to learn in a way that is less disrupted by the state's sometimes extreme weather conditions.

Here is an article about the practice in New Jersey: http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/23/living/snow-days-virtual-schools/ The article describes the practice but says schools don't know if the instructional time will actually count towards the State's requirements.