More than a month into winter and FCPS has yet to see a single day off due to snow. The delay is not unusual, but because of the recent decision to move the start of school to before labor day (August 28), students and faculty grow more and more anxious to use the 13 built in snow days FCPS has stored.

On January 7 there was a slight sign of snow, but it only resulted in a cancellation of afterschool and weekend activities. Any other cold weather has been accompanied by heavy rain and chilling wind, but no snow. It’s a sad sight for us overworked students, and an even sadder one for teachers who await the chance to sit back and relax on a day off that applies to them as well.

Many school officials will try to argue that snow days “waste money” and “ruin productivity,” but if anything snow days can increase productivity. The extra day to rest our minds and be free to play allows students to refill their energy and tolerance for a week’s stress. Sure, we have weekends, but high schools students alike will be sure to remind everyone that we spend our two short days agonizing over homework.

This is not, of course, a way to complain about what weekends lack. In fact the extra time to study can help improve time management since each day of the weekend can only be manipulated by ourselves, there is no eight hour block of time to plan around nor hours of transportation. Snow days are simply everything that weekends try to be, time to relax and time to think about anything except school.
I doubt that there will be any missed oportunities by the county, for there is also the ever looming threat of another “#closefcps” fiasco. The school board has become extra precautious at any sign of snow, even a forecast of snow being above an inch is enough to make them keep their gaurd up. Because of this, the lack of snow days falls only on nature. Perhaps it is global warming, or perhaps the theories about the sun slowly pulling the earth closer to it are true. Whatever the case, it seems as though FCPS students have little snow in their future, and will have to go to school as regularly scheduled.