Snow days on Long Island: How back-to-back storms affected carefully planned school calendars

When Long Island school officials learned they would not have to make up for missing class last Monday — after a historic blizzard dropped about 2 feet of snow on the region — some breathed a sigh of relief. 

It meant meticulously planned school calendars could remain intact. Even districts that had depleted their limited snow days would not need to scramble to meet the state's required 180 days of instruction — which could result in a loss of state aid if they fell short.

It was "a welcomed decision because safety of our students and staff is paramount first, and no district wants to be in a position of making a decision about instructional days and the potential of losing state aid,” said Bob Vecchio, executive director of the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association.

This winter's severe weather — which has included two major snowstorms in as many months — highlights the challenges educators face as they develop their school calendars for the year. School administrators must balance contractual obligations, an increasing number of religious and cultural holidays and constraints imposed by the state.

Some districts have responded by limiting the number of snow days built into their calendars. With recent winters being on the milder side, this has not been an issue. 

But this year's snowstorms have forced some school officials on Long Island to choose between canceling classes now and taking back vacation days later in the year, or offering virtual learning, which has had mixed reactions from parents.

"The messaging that we have consistently used is that we would build in one or more snow days into the calendar for 'traditional snow days,' but if such days are exhausted, we would provide remote instruction to avoid the need to flip a spring recess vacation day into a school day," said Kings Park schools Superintendent Timothy Eagen, who is also president of the Suffolk County School Superintendents Association.

'It gets very difficult'

School districts in New York State must have 180 instructional days in their calendar every year. Educators said the year cannot extend past the last Regents exam at the end of June and often does not begin prior to Sept. 1, because state aid does not kick in until then.

Some districts have added new holidays to their calendars in recent years, including Diwali, Eid al-Adha and Lunar New Year, which was designated an official public school holiday in 2023.  

“Some people think a school calendar is an easy thing to navigate but between mandated holidays, traditional breaks, it gets very difficult,” Vecchio said.

Hampton Bays schools Superintendent Lars Clemensen said administrators need to respect the religious and cultural customs of students and their families. 

“While we're looking for regional consistency...we also acknowledge holidays and recognize them, particularly when there's significant areas in the community who are represented by that cultural religion," he said.

Clemensen said his district built in two snow days this school year. Officials there are saving one, in case unforeseen circumstances arise. 

"Emergency days are not just for snow. If a pipe burst or something else unexpected happened and we had to close school, that's what those days are for," he said.

Schools are also bound by employee contracts, which can include how many days staffers must work.

The Patchogue-Medford district, for example, announced class would be in session on May 26 and 27, which is the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, after schools were closed Tuesday and there was a delayed start Wednesday. The reason given was contractual obligations involving the minimum number of days a teacher must work.

Failing to meet the 180-day instructional requirement can have serious consequences for a district. For every day lost, districts risk losing a fraction of the state aid that they depend on.

State waiver

With the region seeing less snowfall in recent winters, some districts have become accustomed to not needing as many emergency days off.

From December through February, 61.7 inches of snow fell on Long Island. That's compared with 25.1 inches for the last three winters combined, according to Matthew Tauber, a lead forecaster at the National Weather Service.

“The last two school years, we have not needed a snow day,” said Eagen, superintendent at Kings Park.

This season, snowstorms have caused many Island educators to shutter school buildings for three days or more.

Last week's blizzard prompted the state to grant schools a blanket waiver allowing them to cancel classes on Monday without necessarily having to make up the day. 

Vecchio, of the Nassau-Suffolk School Boards Association, said issuing such waivers is rare. Newsday’s prior reporting shows the last time the minimum instructional mandate was waived was during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, when the requirement was suspended by then-Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. At the time, Suffolk and Nassau officials announced schools would be closed for two weeks to prevent the spread of the disease.

This year's blanket waiver, however, only applied to last Monday. The next day, as the region continued to clean up, shuttering proved trickier.

Districts could have applied individually for an exemption to the 180-day rule, but some educators said they didn't want to offer another traditional snow day and risk being denied, which could have forced them to take back upcoming vacation days. Instead, they opted to offer remote instruction.

Learning remotely is not “ideal,” but it is preferable to clawing back scheduled vacation days, said Eagen, whose district incorporated one snow day into the calendar this academic year and designated Tuesday a virtual learning day.

Eagan said roughly a dozen Suffolk school districts chose to go remote Tuesday. It's unclear how many did in Nassau. Several districts held remote instruction Wednesday and at least one, Brentwood, continued online learning Thursday, citing "significant snow accumulation and obstructed bus stops."

While Vecchio said schools made a “smart decision” to get students back to learning after the winter break, which occurred for many districts the week before the snowstorm, not all were prepared to launch into virtual instruction.

“Not every school district has kids at home with devices to be able to log on,” Vecchio said.

Roberta Gerold, superintendent of the Middle Country Central School District, said while every student has a Chromebook, not every child brought it home during the break. She also said some teachers need additional training. 

“Not all of my newer teachers, the ones who weren't with us for the pandemic, I don't know if they yet know how to do full remote… so we have to prepare them for it,” Gerold said.

Her district incorporated three traditional snow days into the calendar. They opted for a second traditional snow day Tuesday, but Gerold said they were planning to develop a remote instructional plan going forward.

Eagen said every school district is required to have an emergency e-learning plan in case of a disaster.

The Central Islip district did not designate any traditional snow days this school year, instead relying on virtual instruction for any days when buildings would be closed.

“The district does not build snow days into the calendar but instead focuses on remote learning to ensure that students always have the opportunity to continue education and educational activities despite the weather," Superintendent Sharon Dungee said in a statement.

Shelter Island schools used up their one snow day in January, when about a foot of snow fell on parts of the Island. Superintendent Brian Doelger said the decision to switch to virtual learning Tuesday was better than taking a chance on getting a waiver from the state.

If it was denied, he said, “Then we have to bring in a whole bunch of teachers and kids on a day they weren't planning to come in, and that would mean a lot of unhappy people."

As to whether he'll consider adding more traditional snow days to the 2026-27 schedule? 

"I think it's at least worth having a discussion with the board about maybe having an extra built-in day for next year," he said.

He added, "You know, it's funny... but people said before the winter that this was going to be a terrible one."