Moms Talk: How Should Waltham/Watertown Public School Make Up Additional Snow Days?

Moms Talk is a new feature on Waltham Patch and Watertown Patch that is part of a new initiative on our Patch sites to reach out to moms and families.

Waltham Patch and Watertown Patch invites you and your circle of friends to help build a community of support for mothers and their families in both communities.

Each week in Moms Talk, our Moms Council of experts and smart moms take your questions, give advice and share solutions.

Moms, dads, grandparents and families who make up our community will have a new resource for questions about local neighborhood schools, the best pediatricians, 24-hour pharmacies and the thousands of other issues that arise while raising children.

Moms Talk will also be the place to drop in for a talk about the latest parenting hot topic. Do you know of local moms raising their children in the Tiger Mother's way and is it the best way? Where can we get information on local flu shot clinics for children? How do we talk to our children about the Tucson shootings? How can we help our children's schools weather their budget cutbacks?

So grab a cup of coffee and settle in as we start the conversation today with the following question: How should Waltham and Watertown public schools make up any additional school closings related to snow? 

Watertown mother Dianne Wheeler: When I was a student, we made up snow days at the end of the year, if necessary. This seemed like an easy way to account for them. Some have suggested that the snow days should be made up during spring break, but this seems tricky since many families plan vacations for that week. Taking some days from this week could cause problems for those family vacations, which may already be planned and paid for. Having a longer school day has also been suggested in some cities grappling with this issue, but this seems like it would not make up for the loss of full days of school that had to be cancelled.

If there were a few holidays that could be used instead, such as President's
Day, that might make better sense than dipping into the spring break week.
Another suggestion I have read is to make up snow days on Saturdays. This might
be okay for students, unless they have jobs or extra curricular activities, but
more difficult on teachers. If school is required to be in session for a certain number of days per year, adding days to the end seems like a good option. This may be difficult for the students, since they have spring fever and school buildings can be hot.

There really is no easy answer, but if the days are added onto the end, at
least everyone knows what to expect, and there is no rearranging current
schedules.

Waltham mother Susan Sutherland: We don't go away on vacation weeks, our kids are not in sports or extracurricular activities that require an investment of time and money, and they are not graduating for a while so any of the options would work for us. This, however, is not the case for many families in Waltham. This may be a good time for the district to develop a contingency plan and decide what the policy should be for the coming years since the change in weather patterns is a variable.

Waltham mother Amy DiMatteo: I have heard various options from many people. Take some days away from April vacation, add time onto the school day, etc. 

Any of these options will negatively impact families and staff in the city. There is no perfect solution for everyone.

Personally, I think that if we use up the remaining snow days, that taking a day or more from April vacation would be best. I know that some families probably already have vacations planned, but a longer school day would effect after-school activities.