For most snow days, no there will not be a virtual learning day.
During the winter season, many parents and students ask if we will turn any “snow day” into a virtual learning day instead.
Most winter weather events that cause schools to be closed will be considered “snow days,” where no scheduled instruction will take place. Assignment due dates, except for long-term assignments or projects, will be adjusted accordingly by the teacher. Parents and students are reminded that a snow day is a perfect opportunity to catch up or get ahead on previously assigned school work.
Should a winter weather event be prolonged, we may consider inserting virtual learning days later in the event (i.e. after the second or third snow day). We believe that in-person learning is best and we want to provide as much in-person learning as is possible for our students. However, if we do have a weather incident when we are forced to close for multiple days in a row, we may consider implementing virtual learning. These will be considered on a case-by-case basis depending on weather conditions. Parents and staff will be informed in advance should we schedule virtual learning days.
We also ask parents to please keep in mind that when we are evaluating whether or not to close or delay school, we must consider road conditions for all areas of the county. Roanoke County can, at times, have widely varying weather conditions depending on elevation, and we must factor the safety of students in many different areas when making a decision. It is our goal to give parents as much advance notice as possible when making weather-related announcements. Depending on the nature of the weather event, we sometimes must make decisions with shorter notice.
When we make a weather-related announcement, we will send notifications by email, phone and text, depending on the parent’s communications preferences. In addition, parents can stay informed about weather-related closings or delays by visiting our website at www.rcps.us and monitoring our social media sites, such as Facebook.
