Frederick County Public Schools (FCPS) recently closed schools two days in a row and had two, 2-hour delays so far this year because of snow. The 1st semester for Linganore High School is ending and students and staff have not had a normal school week because of this inclement weather.
FCPS makes their decisions on whether school is closed or delayed based on how bad the inclement weather is predicted to be, and these decisions are typically made the night before or by 5 a.m. on a school day.
The announcements are posted on the FCPS website and on social media platforms such as X and Facebook. At Linganore High School (LHS) those announcements are released through text and email through FindOutFirst, which is a platform designed to inform families and staff about school-related news.
This school year, FCPS made changes to their prior snow day policy, namely that schools cannot have virtual learning days during inclement weather.
Their prior snow day policy was that schools could choose whether to have a virtual learning day during any inclement weather, following the first snow day. Now, FCPS no longer has that option, and they still have to make up for those snow days later in the school year. Now, they can only have virtual learning days if they have reached the limit of five snow days built into the school calendar.
This policy changed because of the new Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) guidelines that are designed to keep students and staff safe during these times. Previously, MSDE approved and allowed school districts to implement virtual snow day policy. This change was made following the virtual learning days during Covid-19, and the thought was to allow for continuity in instruction during inclement weather to avoid disruptions.
LHS math teacher Brandon Murrell shared his opinion about the new snow day policy and how FCPS makes their weather announcements.
“It’s unexpected and disheartening how we can’t have any virtual learning days because of the new policy,” Murrell said.
He pointed out that any makeup days for snow days would currently happen at the end of the school year and only benefit 2nd semester students and potentially not those classes that lost the learning opportunity.
Despite the change to the policy, LHS senior Theodore Williamson disagrees with how FCPS is announcing their snow days.
“I don’t think they’re making their decisions carefully because sometimes they would announce that school closes early because of snow when it doesn’t [snow],” Williamson said.
Junior Wyatt Tressler likes the new snow day policy because of some of the benefits that come with it. He also thinks that FCPS is really thinking about their decisions before announcing a snow day.
“I like the fact that we don’t have to have any more virtual snow days because students can have a traditional snow day,” Tressler said.
Murrell and Tressler both agree on that FCPS needs to make their decisions about snow days the night before.
Murrell said, “I do think that FCPS makes their decisions carefully, and I can understand why they are under a lot of pressure because of the snow we’ve had, but it would be nice for them to announce their delays and snow days the night before so that families can plan accordingly.”
Tressler agreed: “For the most part, I think they’re making their decisions carefully, but they don’t announce the snow days on time.”
FCPS has announced a two-hour delay for the first day of Semester 2 on January 21. This decision was announced prior to 5:00 p.m.
