Mixed Reactions to Snow Day Live Classes Instead of FID

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Whether through a text from a friend, a coach on a Google Meet, or a Good Morning from a parent, AHS students found out that the snowstorm on Sunday Jan 31st would mean another remote day of schooling.

Monday, February 1st wasn’t very different then Monday, January 3rd or even Monday, December 7th, 2020. They were all fully virtual days.

So were there any changes students noticed?

“A lot more sleep” said Senior Mason Donovan. Today’s schedule started MOD B at 8:43, rather than the 10:15 start time students had been working with since August this year or the 8 AM start time students adapted to at the beginning of the second semester.

This format was the first time Avonworth went fully virtual with live instruction because of a snow day. For the past two years, the district had been working with a Flexible Instructional Day (FID) format. Students visited the Google Classroom page and accessed posted content for each of their classes. Freshman Dylan Teague appreciated the longer stretch of work time in the FID format, remarking that he sometimes checked the assignments and “did all the FID work on Friday night” before the 11:59 deadlines.

A number of students preferred the live instruction instead. Junior Halle Archey wrote that, “live classes are more interactive, while FID seems like busywork.” Additionally, junior Nathaniel Hardiman said, “4 day weeks have been incredibly stressful this year” and preferred to just have the live classes to complete the work during the school day.

As of December 7th, the board approved the 2021-2022 calendar being released with 5 FID days approved for use. There is no official statement about the format of the day – FID or synchronous. Avonworth’s pivot to live virtual learning during the ongoing pandemic may mean synchronous snow days are here to stay.