A family in Hallowell takes advantage of a day off following a snowstorm in 2019. With above-average snowfall expected this winter, schools across Maine are preparing for how to handle snow days with a combination of time off and remote learning. Andy Molloy/Kennebec Journal file

AUGUSTA – As the clocks change, snow can’t be far behind — nor the snow days that come with it.

On the way out are traditional snow days, where children can sleep in and wake up to a cup of hot chocolate and no schoolwork. The pandemic introduced the use of remote school days, keeping students in class even if they are stuck at home.

Snow-day policies are approved by local school boards across Maine, and as experts at the National Weather Service in Gray predict more snow this year after five winters of below-normal snowfall, school boards and administrators are deciding how to best use their snow days.

Some, like the Augusta Public Schools, came up with creative ways to deal with weather cancellations. Others will use a hybrid of traditional and remote snow days.

If meteorologists are correct, the policies will come into play soon.

According to meteorologist Derek Schroeter with the National Weather Service in Gray, a region including both Gardiner and Portland has experienced below-average snowfall. In Portland, the last five years have measured snowfall under 60 inches, well below normal.

However, Schroeter said weak La Niña conditions are expected this year, which correlates with above-normal snowfall.

“I can say there is a high confidence that weak La Niña conditions will be in place and with that, there is a relationship between La Niña and above-normal snowfall,” he said.

CENTRAL MAINE

Augusta Public Schools will have remote school days when the snow day can be called by 1 p.m. the day before. Otherwise, students will likely have a traditional snow day.

By state law, for the remote school day to count toward minimum requirements, there must be at least three hours of instruction and the district must serve lunch — either by sending it home the night before or delivering the meals to student’s homes.

School officials say some students have limitations on getting schoolwork done on a remote snow day, so students will have up to three days to turn in their assignments. Teachers will offer office hours 8-11 a.m. during remote school days and be available to take questions from students.  

Stacey McCluskey, a fifth grade teacher at Solon Elementary School, makes videos for remote learning in this 2020 photo. Many Maine schools will use remote learning, made routine during the pandemic, to deliver lessons on snow days. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel file

Superintendent Michael Tracy Jr. said the point is to maintain the continuity of the school year and limit the amount of make-up days in June. 

The district’s technology director, Katelyn Rodriguez, told the Board of Education in October that students will have a generous amount of time to complete the remote work during the snow day, but that students also will be held accountable.

“Everyone will be marked present, but they have three days to complete the work and if they don’t get it done, they get marked absent. It’s not a free pass,” Rodriguez said. 

At Winthrop Public Schools, Interim Superintendent Becky Foley said the first two days when school is called on account of snow will be used as traditional snow days. Any predictable snow days after that are planned as remote learning days.

Last year, parents spoke in front of the school board with mixed feelings about remote snow days, with some saying students had too much work to complete, while others were glad students weren’t missing a day of instruction. 

“This recommendation allows students to relish the ‘joy’ of some snow days while preventing staff and students from attending school into late June,” Foley wrote in a letter to the Winthrop School Board.

SOUTHERN MAINE 

The state’s largest school district, Portland, is accounting for three traditional snow days. That would mean no class and no meals, and students would make up those days in June. But if there are four or more inclement weather days, the district will switch to remote learning days.

At the Portland school board’s latest meeting Nov. 5, Superintendent Ryan Scallon said on those days kindergarten through fifth grade students will do independent work, and sixth through 12th grade students will do synchronous virtual instruction. All middle and high school students have school-issued devices, he said, and the district has a partnership with T-Mobile to provide Wi-Fi hotspots to families on those days.

On virtual school days, the district provides food at nine pickup locations in the district. Scallon said the district has readjusted its meal distribution plan, adding Rowe Elementary School as a pickup location to accommodate Sagamore Village, the nearby public housing community. Families can pick up food at any location, not just the one at which they’re enrolled.

This is the same schedule the district followed last year, when Scallon said the district had two snow days, two late starts and one early dismissal.

LEWISTON-AREA SCHOOLS

The Auburn School Department will use traditional snow days, but as the potential for more snow days adds up the district will switch to remote days.

“School may be canceled, and the first three canceled days will be traditional snow days that will be made up in June,” Auburn Superintendent Susan Dorris said at a recent school board meeting. “Beyond the three days, we will have remote learning days. This will be decided the day before.”

An online breakfast and lunch signup will be provided for remote learning days. Student meals will be delivered a day before the remote session, Dorris noted.

“If we have a delay, it will be a two-hour delay. If we have an early dismissal, which is rare, we may decide the day before that the weather in the afternoon is not looking good,” Dorris said.

Portland Press Herald staff writer Riley Board and Sun Journal staff writer Frida Zeinali contributed to this report.