New Pennsylvania Department of Education guidelines enable school districts to offer virtual instruction when school may be closed due to inclement weather or other emergencies. These Flexible Instruction/Emergency Instructional days would allow Colonial School District to provide instruction virtually and would count as regular school days. This would eliminate the need to make up the instructional time by adding days to the end of the year.
Traditional "snow days" won't be going away entirely. Ideally, remaining inclement weather days already built into the instructional calendar would be used first if school needs to be canceled, but that will not always be possible or practical. Many factors -- such as timing of a storm and/or power outages -- will determine whether or not a traditional "snow day" or a Flexible Instruction/Emergency Instructional day is used.
On a Flexible Instruction/Emergency Instructional day, students would log into class using their school device and spend the first half of their day engaged in live instruction with their teachers. Live instruction would conclude by lunch time, and the remainder of the day would be spent completing teacher assignments and/or engaging with teachers one-on-one through virtual “office hours,” if needed. Teachers will communicate with students and families through Google Classroom in grades K-5, and Canvas for grades 6-12.
A Flexible Instructional day would not be used during major weather events with power outages. The District will do its best to notify families, faculty, and staff ahead of time if a virtual day is anticipated, so that all are prepared. Notifications will be sent via the District's mass notification system using email, phone calls, and texts. Information will also be posted on our website and social media, and shared with local TV/radio stations.
In the event a student is unable to participate in virtual learning, accommodations will be made. Please click here to visit a webpage with more information.