North Central College dean quoted in New York Times

Dr. Marci J. Swede weighs in on e-learning making snow days obsolete

For generations, snow days meant no school and a day of fun for many students. Now, they are likely to mean logging into a laptop for a Zoom lesson due to the coronavirus pandemic and increase in online learning. Many school administrations are making the decisions to do away with snow days, citing the pandemic. When schools were forced to transition to online learning in the spring, officials realized they could do the same during hazardous weather.

Dr. Marci J. Swede, dean of the School of Education and Health Sciences at North Central College, spoke with the New York Times on this topic. She mentioned that at the college level, many students are parents themselves. A snow day that disrupts day care could put those students behind if they have to skip online class to care for their children.

“We have to have some compassion for the complexity of the students’ and the teachers’ lives,” said Swede.

Click here to read the full interview on the New York Times website.