GNA CAMPUS – Flexible Instructional Days, or FID days, are now commonly used instead of traditional snow days. They can also be used for emergencies like water main breaks or other issues that prevent students from having school in person.

The FID day became popular after COVID-19 since most schools now had Chromebooks for all the students and online learning tools from Google Classroom. They are similar to working from home, which is also very common since the pandemic. The FID days have many positive benefits for both students and teachers.

One of the biggest benefits is that the last day of school or graduation does not keep changing, and days of summer vacation are not lost. For example, some years the school year was over a week longer than scheduled due to excessive snow days. It is very helpful to seniors when graduation is on time for planning celebrations and parties. Many families also like to take vacations in June. If there are too many snow days that can conflict with vacation plans. Imagine having a final fall on your vacation week. No snow days also means there is less chance holiday break will be cut short to make up for missed days.

Additionally, when school is unexpectedly disrupted during the week students can still complete lessons online and learning does not need to stop. Teachers also benefit by not having all their plans totally disrupted. Although students still need to get their schoolwork done it is still a nice break to work from your house for the day. students can even get a little extra sleep since they don’t have to get ready or travel to school. Finally, when the school year goes longer into June, many students lose focus and may not be as productive, so adding days to the end of the year is not always very effective.