The Prince George’s County public school system has already used more snow days than it planned for, and winter isn’t over yet.
That’s why the county has made adjustments to the school calendar — five days where students originally had off are now going to be spent in the classroom — and the school system is making plans to bring back virtual learning in the case of any more winter storms.
The five days students will be in the classroom are March 20, May 27 and June 15-18, and if the county can’t get a two-day waiver from the state, April 6 and June 22 might also be in play.
But the biggest adjustment might be the return of virtual learning on future snow days.
“If we were to have another snow day, then the plan would be to open virtually on the day,” Andrew Zuckerman, chief information officer for the school district, said.
It’s something most school systems have moved away from since the pandemic, he said, because last year a new law took effect requiring virtual days to include four hours of live instruction in order for them to count toward the required 180 days of instruction.
“If you’re going to use virtual learning for inclement weather, it has to be synchronous, and that does mean live,” Zuckerman said. “So that’s why a number of districts opted not to pursue virtual learning when that law changed, and we opted as well. But things have shifted, and this experience with this weather event has made us realize that we do want to have a virtual education day plan for inclement weather in this type of an emergency situation.”
School leaders are asking parents to use the ParentVUE app to let schools know whether or not they have enough computers at home to accommodate live instruction for all their kids. Some families might have enough computers. Schools will make sure students who need one will be able to take a Chromebook home ahead of a forecast winter storm.
The county used to send all students home with a Chromebook, but discontinued that practice at the start of this school year because of the wear and tear put on the machines.
“Next week, we will have training and office hours for our teachers to help set up their virtual environments. Just a refresher for those who haven’t done it for a while since the pandemic,” Zuckerman said.
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