Remote learning days in place of snow days irking some MA parents

DEDHAM, Mass. — Despite the snow on Tuesday, Dedham had a full remote-learning day.

“Today was not a snow day. [I] home-schooled my 3-year-old, I did Zoom kindergarten all day,” said Mike Volpe, a Dedham parent of two young children.

Volpe prefers a snow day, not a remote learning day, when it snows.

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“So, if I have a meeting at 1 o’clock, I know that I can plan for that instead of planning my schedule as well as my 3-year-old’s schedule,” he said.

Volpe said it lets kids be kids and it gives him a break too.

“I’d rather have a snow day, let’s play in the snow. A 3-year-old or 5-year-old or even a 41-year-old shouldn’t be strapped to computer desk all day,” he said.

Meanwhile, snow shovels were hard at work on sidewalks around Boston as parents of school-age kids were hard at work inside. Boston Public Schools declared a partial snow day for students. That fell short for parents like Laureen Wood.

“I wish Boston would just do one or the other,” Wood said. “Either have a snow day or have a remote learning day.”

The partial days allowed students out early, but Wood said that’s not fair.

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“Because my daughter has nothing to do from 1 p.m. until 4 o’clock when she should be occupied,” she said.

And, Wood says, the classroom time they do get is minimal.

“It’s just a way to do the bare minimum and have it count toward the state requirement, which is 170 days this year,” Wood charged.

Cox Media Group