Introduced in early 2023, MCPS put out an alternative plan for a snow day, Code Purple. These days were an alternative to adding an extra day to the school year. When school was closed due to inclement weather, students would do school virtually. However, MCPS has gotten rid of Code Purple days and has averted back to old ways by adding school days to the end of the year. 

So far in the 2024-2025 school year, we’ve had 3 days canceled due to inclement weather. Due to this, we have added one day to the school year: making the end date June 16th opposed to June 13th. 

“I believe we should have more days added to the calendar because it’s the end of the school year, there isn’t much work to do, and not everyone would join a virtual school day,” junior Clara Amaya Hernandez said.

Students feel there was no point in having virtual school days because not everyone could join the class over Zoom. This could be due to technical difficulties, not having a computer, or other personal reasons.

“It’s just very boring, and I can’t focus well due to my siblings,” sophomore Katherine Diaz said.

Diaz, along with many others, relate to these struggles.This is why many would prefer to just have added days to the school year as opposed to having virtual days. However, not all students share this opinion. 

“I would rather have virtual snow days because [adding school days to the calendar] takes away from our summer time,” senior Dafne Paz-Lopez said.

Many students would rather spend their winters studying hard and doing their work than have class canceled just to make it up in the summer.

“Personally, I think it’s a better alternative instead of just canceling school because no one wants to be at school an extra day or two during the summer because of the amount of snow days we’ve had,” senior Paz-Lopez said.

Additionally, students also feel that simply adding more emergency days would be a better alternative.

“I think 2 days are not enough, especially for times when it snows a lot,” sophomore Diaz said.