State Superintendent of Schools Mohammed Choudhury has approved Anne Arundel County Public Schools’ 2023-24 Virtual Day Instruction Plan for Inclement Weather, setting the stage for the school system to potentially convert snow days and the like to virtual instruction days.
As the Board of Education was reviewing the plan for its approval, AACPS Superintendent of Schools Dr. Mark Bedell emphasized repeatedly that the implementation of the plan in no way means that every inclement weather day will become a virtual instructional day. Those decisions, Dr. Bedell told the Board, will occur on a case-by-case basis.
“We’re not looking to take away snow days from our students,” Dr. Bedell said. “But what we are saying is that there will be cases where snow may be projected and snow may not hit the way that we think it’s going to hit, and now we’re sitting in ice and slush or things of that nature where we will not allow for a day to go wasted.”
Under the plan approved by the AACPS Board of Education on September 20 and then by Mr. Choudhury, the school system can repurpose up to eight days for virtual instruction, with no more than three of those days using asynchronous instruction.
Among the other parts of the plan:
- There must be at least four hours of instruction for synchronous virtual days.
- No student’s grade will be negatively impacted by a virtual day. Students must be provided with meaningful in-person opportunities for instruction.
- No employee’s pay will be negatively impacted by the use of a virtual instructional day.
Whenever the forecast makes it possible, the school system will announce the intention to utilize a virtual instructional day in advance.