With the introduction of new technology that has made this school year safe in the midst of COVID-19, another new change to the system has been introduced: Flexible Instructional Days (FID). Instead of canceling school completely for a snow day, the district has implemented a new alternative. A FID day “is a school day where instruction is delivered remotely through online learning activities while the school building is closed,” according to the Manheim Township District website.

Even though students are not in the building, schoolwork is still given and the FID day counts as a school day —meaning the day does not have to be made up. Students have mixed opinions about these FID days. On the one hand, some students think snow days are necessary to the mental health of the student body and are something that every child should get to experience. But others think FID days can still be relaxing, and they like the benefit of not having to make up school in the summer.

In the opinion of some, it can be harder to learn at home; so instead of snow being a cause for celebration, it has turned into a feeling of dread. For those students who like to ask questions or get help from their teachers, it can be very difficult to communicate with them solely over email or Zoom.

When work is being done at home, there are also many distractions that can lead students astray and end up dragging out their schoolwork. Junior Sarah Russo will often take breaks to clean something, make food, or just do other little things around the house.

“I find it easy to get distracted on FID days, so my schedule is really all over the place, and in the middle of doing class I might end up, say, doing some chore around the house because it needs to get done and I’m there,” said Russo.
By the time Russo is finished with all of her work, it is nearly 10 PM. The difficulties of being at home for a FID day are what lead some students to say that they’d rather just not have school at all.

Students also miss that excitement and joy that comes with a snow day — that feeling of apprehension when padding down the stairs while it’s still dark out and turning on the local news to see what each school has announced in regards to closing school. The spontaneity a is one of the fun parts of a snow day.

Some kids long for those traditional snow days again and wish that the younger students will get to experience that too. “I have a kindergartener sister, and I think it’s hard to watch her grow up in a school environment that while we had snow days and exciting times, she has to sit there while looking out the window at snow and learning things that she should be learning in a classroom,” says Freshman Paige Fairchild.

Students say that snow days are necessary for the mental health of high schoolers as well. Just having a day to relax and take a break from schoolwork can make a world of difference in the life of a busy teenager.

Fairchild brings up another argument. She feels that the assignments given on FID days don’t really reflect the school curriculum or aren’t worth students’ time at all. “Most of it is just busywork: things that are either unnecessary to what we are learning, or things that take us longer to do than had we actually been in school.”

While some students think that snow days should be continued, there are students who believe that the benefits of FID days outweigh the consequences. Junior Deeya Doshi is one of them. She would take a FID day anytime if it meant she could keep the school’s end date the same and not have to go into summer. She doesn’t miss snow days at all because she gets that same thrill from a FID day.

“The reason that school is hard is because you have to wake up early, and then you have to go to classes the whole day, and it’s just really tiring. Well for FID days, you get the education of school, but you don’t get the exhaustion,” she says.

During a FID day, students have the flexibility to wake up whenever they want and create a schedule that works for them. Doshi feels that the freedom students get on a FID day makes it just as enjoyable as a snow day, and it doesn’t have to be made up at the end of the year.

For students who don’t like the cold, FID days can be a great alternative to having a snow day because their summer won’t be made shorter. Rather than having to sit in school in June when the sun is shining and everyone else is at the pool, it can be nice to just get that work done during a FID day and to be able to enjoy the beautiful weather in summer.

The new experiment with FID days is definitely a controversial topic with many different opinions. While it can be welcomed by those who don’t want to lose their summer, it can also be just as disliked by students who like the small break from school that snow days offer. Regardless, FID days seem to be here to stay.