Snowstorms and arctic temperatures come and go in the Madison County area, but the school year must go on.
While some local schools canceled classes Monday after a weekend storm dropped about a foot of snow and temperatures plummeted into the single digits, most opted for a synchronous — or e-learning — day.
Anderson Community Schools were not in-person but were in session as students and their teachers met Monday via video chat for more than three hours.
Since every ACS snow day is a synchronous learning day, the school system won’t have to extend the academic year in the spring to make up for missed days.
Superintendent Joe Cronk said many factors, including air temperature, wind chill and road conditions combine to determine whether a school day will be in person.
“On a normal day,” Cronk said, “we are up and out on the roads at about 3 a.m. We usually confer with other superintendents. …
“If the temperature is hovering around 10 to 15 below, either air temperature or wind chill, we make a determination to delay if we think the temperature is going to get colder. Or we move to an e-learning day if it’s going to stay frigid.”
Cronk said each ACS school sent students home Thursday with a Chromebook so that they could finish their schoolwork.
“Everyone should have what they need,” he noted. “They have a week to turn in their work for the day. If for some reason they missed today, they can still make up their work.”
South Madison Community Schools used Monday as a regular snow day, with a plan to make up the lost school hours Monday, Feb. 16.
Superintendent Mark Hall said “every day is different, so every decision we make related to weather is different.”
“Sometimes, like today, it was pretty obvious yesterday afternoon that we weren’t going to be able to safely go to school,” he explained.
“A lot of times, we have to wait until the morning because we have a forecast but we want to make sure the conditions actually match that forecast. We typically make our decision between 5 and 5:30 a.m. on a school day.”
Hall said parents were notified Thursday that a snowstorm was approaching over the weekend and “they needed to remind their students to bring home all the things they would need to e-learn.
“We have one more built-in make-up day, which is the day before spring break. That will be the last one we use. So if we have any more missed days, then we’ll switch over to doing e-learning.”
Frankton-Lapel Community Schools operated on an e-learning day Monday. Superintendent Sterling Boles said the school administration keeps a close eye on the weather when making such decisions.
“Decisions regarding school operations are made as early as possible, typically the evening before or early morning,” Boles said. “We closely monitor weather forecasts, snowfall amounts, road conditions and extreme cold temperatures when determining whether to hold school in person.”
He also addressed the technological challenges of e-learning days.
“The majority of our students have the necessary technology and access to participate in e-learning,” Boles said, noting that the Frankton-Lapel staff “works to provide flexibility and support to ensure students can continue learning.”
This article appeared in The Herald Bulletin.