SAINT PAUL, Minn. — Non-instructional days are back for students at Saint Paul Public Schools.
They're better known as 'snow days,' but technically the new plan impacts students when any kind of severe weather prevents them from going to class.
The Board of Education approved the new winter weather plan as required by state law. The district and the Saint Paul Federation of Educators agreed on the new rules:
For the first two days of inclement weather that SPPS decides to cancel school, this will be a non-instructional day. Students should not report to school, and there will be NO e-learning.
After two non-instructional days due to weather, the decision to use an e-learning day or a non-instructional day is at the discretion of the Superintendent.
"I actually think that this agreement is a good example of the district and the union working together to come to an agreement that both of us feel pretty good about," said Erica Schatzlein, the SPFE's lead negotiator and an SPPS teacher. "We're always concerned about the idea of making sure that especially our little kids aren't sitting in front of a device for six and a half or seven hours straight. And also that our kids are safe those days that have the 35 below wind chills."
Groveland Park Elementary fifth-graders Yohanna Belete and Oscar Nykanen are happy about the change.
"During COVID I didn't really mind e-learning," said Yohanna. "But then like on snow days, I just like really prefer that I didn't have any school."
"It was like a little annoying because I had to be on a screen all day and then wait for super long meetings to be done," said Nykanen. " It also kind of reminded me of COVID when we had to stay home like every single day, which wasn't very fun. So I didn't really like it."
Kids didn't like it, and neither did their teachers.
"When they're doing online learning it's just kind of a memory of the way things were during the pandemic," said their teacher Jeff Sambs. "It kind of stirs up some things for students. And that's one of the first things that they mentioned when we have one of the e-learning days, is that it just kind of feels like the time when things were not so great."
For the past few years, the district typically would go to e-learning during bad weather. The last time the district had e-learning days was Feb. 2023. They learned online for two days and decided to have a "snow day" for the third day of severe weather.
"I think we need to celebrate Minnesota culture, and snow days are fun," said Sambs. "And kids should have something to look forward to."
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