What's the difference between a snow day and a flexible instruction day in Pennsylvania?
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — The warmer weather means kids are back in class after spending much of last week learning from home because of the cold.
But districts are burning through their so-called flexible instruction days. That means traditional snow days may be back on the books, but it could keep kids in school a little longer this spring.
During a stretch of below-freezing temperatures, almost every school in the Pittsburgh area was empty. But what's the difference between a snow day and a remote learning day?
According to Pennsylvania state guidelines, during an old-fashioned snow day, the school is closed down completely. Students are off, and it's considered a missed day of school.
An FID, or flexible instruction day, is a school day. Students aren't in school but are considered learning at home, so it still counts as a school day. But according to Pennsylvania Department of Education guidelines, only five flexible instruction days are allowed per year.
There has to be a good reason for a flexible instruction day, like a disease epidemic, a hazardous weather condition or a law enforcement emergency.
So now plain old snow days are often replaced with a flexible instruction day and credited as a school day.
The bottom line: if a school district uses all of its snow days or all its remote learning days, the only option for a lot of schools is to add additional days at the end of their year. Students may be in school longer than the school calendar shows.