Peddie woke up to a snowy campus three times this winter term. While most people enjoyed the beautiful view outside their windows, people also complained about having to bring out their winter wardrobe again and, naturally, expressed concern about the slippery roads. Since a no-class Saturday was already in place, Peddie could avoid a snow day. In fact, Peddie avoided having a snow day at all this winter, even though it snowed twice before. This brings up a practical question: Should Peddie have snow days?
“Yes,” answered Jake Mileski ‘26, a day student. “When it snowed the first time, it snowed so heavily that it took my mom an extra 15 minutes to get to campus. It’s not like I live close either; it normally takes me about 30 minutes.” An obvious concern among day students is the slippery drive ahead. Driving on snow is not only inefficient but also extremely dangerous. Accidents are more likely to occur and drivers are inclined to drive slower to be careful. Multiple day students have already had to miss classes because of snow on the road.
“Definitely,” said Izzy Lam ‘26, a boarder. “I’ve had friends who are day students miss school and ask me for notes because they missed out on the material. It’s unfair to them that they don’t get to learn it the way we did.” Lam expressed a realistic concern about class material. Although day students are allowed to miss school due to snow, they miss out on a day’s worth of material when they do. To them, it is presumably harder to miss school and catch up on their own than drive through the snow. It’s also harder to retain information when one hasn’t sat through a class and took notes themselves.
Back to the question: Should Peddie have snow days? Even though it would be harder to alter the schedule abruptly, safety on the road and the disparity between boarders and day students are bigger concerns. However, if need be, alternatives such as Zoom exist. Every Peddie student has a laptop and, therefore, access to platforms like Zoom. They are also likely to be acquainted with these platforms due to their experiences in quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic. Just for the day, the class can meet online and carry on as they did offline. Since alternatives exist and multiple concerns arise, Peddie should indeed hold snow days once in a while.
