Last winter, Verona–and schools around the state–had an avalanche of snow days. In February, when we posted the picture above, we noted that a former Veronan who now lived in New Hampshire told us that her state had a procedure for keeping education running even when snow shut the schools. Some New Jersey legislators are now trying to do the same here.
According to a story in NJSpotlight.com, Sen. Gerald Cardinale (R-Bergen) has proposed that school districts could get permission to use online classes when there are weather emergencies. The bill seems to be a response to what happened in the Pascack Valley Regional High School District on February 13. The two-high school district, which has issued laptops to every student–led online classes that day, only to have the state Department of Education deny it as one of the mandated 180 days of school. Pascack Valley had to take a day from its spring break to satisfy the state.
The bill is S-2476, and it is co-sponsored by Sen. James Beech of south Jersey. You can read it here. There is no corresponding bill yet in the State Assembly.
