Although there hasn’t been a large amount of snowfall in Spotsylvania County, there have certainly been a number of snow days. This has caused disruption in class schedules, the county calendar, and sleep patterns. However, snow days can be very helpful for many students to catch up on missing or late work. Junior, Kyle Flynn, said, “I love snow days. I always need time to relax and catch up.”
Because of the number of snow days, school days that were supposed to be days off for students have now become regular school days. January 29th and February 19th will now be regular full days. Midterms have also been canceled, much to the excitement of many students. However, teachers can still give midterms and put them in the gradebook as normal test grades. Junior, Blaize Smoot, said, “I am so excited that midterms are canceled because I was worried one test would mess up my whole grade average. Now that they are canceled I don’t have to stress as much.” Because of the exam cancellations, January 23, 24, and 25 were changed from half days to full days. January 26 was still a half day for all levels of school. If we have any more snow days, the 3rd through the 7th days will not be made up. The 8th snow day will cause April 13th to become a regular school day. Even though the week of January 22nd will be converted into full days, the hours will not count towards the necessary days of school that the county requires. 180 full days are required for students and 190 full days are required for the teachers.
The odd pattern of going to school, then not going to school, and then going again has affected the sleeping patterns of many students. They sleep in on snow days and then are expected to wake up early in the morning when we are back at school. Junior, Riley Matthews, said, “It’s so difficult to wake up in the morning after you have been sleeping in late every other day. The fact that you never know until late at night whether you’ll have school or not the next day makes it hard too.” Although snow days can be annoying at times, they are very important for safety and are helpful for many students in Spotsylvania.