Snow Days May Have Virtual Classes In Anne Arundel County

ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, MD - The Anne Arundel County Board of Education is again considering replacing some snow days with virtual classes. The board wants feedback on the proposal.

Mark Bedell, superintendent of Anne Arundel County Public Schools, presented the proposal during Wednesday's board meeting. Bedell hopes this strategy will prevent snow days from getting tacked onto the end of the school year, which shortens summer vacation.

If the proposal is approved as is, AACPS could have online instruction on eight days. Those lessons may be synchronous, meaning live, or asynchronous, meaning prerecorded. No more than three days may be asynchronous. 

All AACPS students and staff have devices they can use for virtual classes.

Bedell's plan only calls for repurposing some inclement weather days. He also stressed that snow does not automatically mean AACPS will move classes online. There may still be traditional days without class during some winter storms.

Online classes were the norm during the pandemic, but Bedell's plan doesn't call for sustained virtual instruction in case of COVID-19 outbreaks. The current plan is still to continue in-person classes.

The school board adopted a similar plan last year for online classes on snow days. The proposal also aligns with the outline set by the Maryland State Department of Education.

"The plan follows a pathway opened by MSDE for the current school year. It is not intended for sustained virtual instruction of students," AACPS said in a press release. "Rather, it is a pathway that enables local school systems to have the flexibility to repurpose certain days where it is prudent and to keep the end of the school year closer to the beginning of June."

More details on the plan are posted at aacps.org/virtualdayplan, where families can share feedback until Sept. 15 at 4 p.m.

The school board will vote on the proposal at its Sept. 20 meeting. If passed, the plan will get sent to State Superintendent Mohammed Choudhury for approval.

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