For students, snow days can offer a unique opportunity for students to focus on their personal lives and enjoy a day to themselves.

So far, the Lawrence school district has had four snow days in 2024. According to Julie Boyle, the district uses many factors to determine a snow day. Some of the things that make the district call a snow day include low temperatures, the inability to properly heat buildings, mechanical issues in diesel-fueled vehicles and the overall road conditions.

“Extremely low temperatures pose a health risk to students who may be waiting at bus stops or walking to school,” Julie Boyle said.

Snow day weather can be dangerous, but they have the potential to improve a student’s mental health by giving them a day to focus on themselves. Seniors Blake Wohler and Lucas Sola enjoy snow days because they give them a day to do what they please.

Wohler said that snow days make the school year more enjoyable because you never know when you might have one. He said that snow days help to improve his overall attitude about school by giving him a day to relax.

“Sometimes everything about school can stress people out,” Sola said. “It helps a lot of people to have the day off.”

While snow days do provide students with a unique opportunity to focus on themselves and relax a little, the constant interruptions to the school week can make it harder for both students and teachers. Studies show that snow days don’t harm test scores, though they can still make it hard for students to get back into the rhythm of school.

“It’s made it super hard to come back here and kind of get in the swing of things,” Lucas Sola said.

Snow days can also have a big effect on a teacher’s curriculum. For some teachers, snow days come as a welcome day to plan extra lessons or take the day off. Other teachers such as math teacher Annette McDonald face pressure to get students ready for AP tests that happen on the same day regardless of snow days.

“[Snow days] stressed me out because I feel with the advanced placement classes that we’re always pressed for time,” McDonald said. “I’ve scheduled it all out so that we have two weeks to prepare or extra practice just to get ready for the exam, you know, reviewing. And every snow day I lose a day and…four days and I’ve lost a week.”

McDonald decided to combat the lack of time by continuing to assign work on snow days. Calculus BC student Sola doesn’t feel like it’s fair to be given work on snow days. He feels like they should be given the day off to relax and just mentally reset.

“I’ve talked to so many people and nobody really does it,” Sola said. “If you have a snow day you’re not doing homework. You’re just relaxing or taking the day off.”