BY SARAH HOFIUS HALL

Staff Writer for the Times-Tribune

via Associated Press

Snow days often reserved for riding sleds and sipping hot chocolate could soon include homework and online lessons.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf signed a bill Tuesday that allows schools to replace snow days with “flexible instructional days” — which means students would learn from home and not have to make up the days schools are closed for inclement weather or other emergencies.

School districts interested in the option will have to submit an application to the state, detailing how educators will ensure students have access to technology, meet the requirements of special education students and monitor attendance.

Leaders of area school districts — which had as many as seven or eight snow days last year — said flex days may be worth pursuing.

“It would be beneficial to students in the long run,” Scranton Superintendent Alexis Kirijan, Ed.D., said. “There’s less disruption to instruction, and it keeps us on the instructional calendar for testing. I think it’s a great concept.”

However, the district would need to complete significant work before flex days could be used, she said.

While the district’s online learning platform, Apex, would provide a way for students to learn and interact with their teachers on a snow day, all students and teachers must be trained on how to use it, she said. The district must also make sure lessons are available online.

“Although it has many advantages, it would take time, money and training to be able to implement fully if you want to do it right,” Kirijan said.

If a student does not have a computer, tablet, smartphone or other device to access lessons, the district would loan that student a computer, she said.

Abington Heights Superintendent Michael Mahon, Ph.D., said the district will also explore the use of flex days.

While teachers and students in upper grades often use the Google Classroom online platform for assignments, Mahon said he is concerned with technology and online interaction for students in elementary grades.

Along with ensuring students have access to technology and an internet connection, the district also would need to look at how flex days would affect the paychecks of hourly employees, Mahon said. For example, aides are not paid for a snow day, but are then paid for hours worked on the makeup day. With flex days, there would be no makeup days for the aides to work.

“We’re very interested in exploring the idea,” Mahon said. “There are many things that would need to be considered.”