In years past, John Carroll has followed calls made by Harford County Public Schools for decisions on inclement weather. This year, however, public schools are currently 100% remote, so John Carroll has had to make their own calls when it comes to the weather.

Principal Tom Durkin said, “This means we had to create an Inclement Weather Team among our administration and staff to coordinate our own decisions.”
This team made a decision to keep some of the snow days as full days off while making others virtual.
The first snow event occurred in the days before Christmas break, and it was decided to continue with synchronous classes for the two days the building had to be closed due to the inclement weather.
When the 2021-2022 calendar was first created, John Carroll built in seven snow days. Upon revisiting the plan, the team decided that three days would be set aside to be used as actual snow days while the other four would be taken off the end of the school year.
All three of these snow days have already been used for this school year. During these snow days (Monday, Feb. 1, Tuesday, Feb. 2, and Thursday, Feb. 11), students and teachers did not have to log in for classes at all.
On Thursday and Friday of last week, snow and ice kept the building from opening. Students and teachers moved into synchronous distance learning.
Principal Durkin said, “I think now that we have the capacity to do distance learning, we can easily transition when inclement weather occurs.”
Sophomore Angelina DiCocco said, “It’s still important that students get a mental break from school, and any other given year, [all] snow days would provide that. I don’t think it should be different just because we’re doing school in a different form.”
Regarding how she spent her early February snow days, Angelina said, “It’s been really beneficial mentally and physically because I’ve been able to catch up on sleep, and as a result, I’m feeling more energized.”
Sophomore Brenna Baier commented, “I would be fine with [having less snow days] because it means getting off earlier for summer. . . I’m really fine with not having snow days if it means we get more days of summer.”
Assistant Principal Danica Attanasio said, “Virtual learning provides the school with the opportunity to continue with synchronous learning as needed.”
When asked if the school has a snow day plan similar to this beyond this school year, she replied, “We have not made a decision regarding snow days in future years, but we have discussed the possibility of needing less days with the potential for virtual learning to occur.”