Since the spread of COVID-19, virtual learning has become accessible to all students throughout Lower Dauphin School District. Even after school was permitted to be in-person every day, tools such as Zoom continue to play a part in education.

Virtual instruction days, those in which students attend shortened Zoom classes from home, have been used in recent years in place of traditional “snow days.” The goal of these online learning days is to relieve the school district of the task of arranging makeup days or scheduling school to progress past the predetermined last day.

“I like virtual days because we don’t have to make up days during the summer,” says junior Lucia Schertzer, “and it’s less school than a normal day.”

While it is undoubtable that virtual instruction days are efficient and prevent periods like Spring Break from getting shortened, there are many people, including staff members such as Mr. Fackler, who have come to miss snow days.

“Having younger kids, I would prefer a full snow day because I enjoy going out and playing in the snow with my children.”

Teachers, especially at the younger level, believe that it is important for children to experience snow days. There are also concerns about the productivity of virtual days due to their shortened nature.

While not everybody has been able to agree on whether the addition of virtual instruction days are truly beneficial, they do not appear to be going anywhere soon. The district has taken full advantage of the new technological opportunities in the past years, and will likely continue to do so for years to come.