The dirt behind the snow

An inside look at how snow days are decided

This year Minnesota has gotten an extreme amount of snow. From Jan. 2-5, Minnesota’s storm (Big Mess) came in #24 for the top 24 snowfalls since 1884. There has only been one snow day and few early releases and late starts.

According to sophomore Ryan Steinberg, who recently received his license, it’s best to have a snow day whenever possible. He said that road conditions can be extremely dangerous, especially for new drivers.

“This is the first winter that I’ve had my license and driving with the snow has been a big challenge,” Steinberg said. “It was a big relief to my parents and I when school was canceled, because we had been worried about the roads being icy.”

While the decision to have a snow day is ultimately Superintendent Astein Osei’s decision, he said he meets with a team to help decide what is best for the district.

There’s snow place like Snow Daze

Winter dance reinstated after three years

Maren Wilsey

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Park has seen a whirlwind of events and activities come and go. One such event is the winter Snow Daze dance. Park’s version of the “Sadie Hawkins” dance has not been held since early 2020, but after three years, the student council has decided to bring the tradition back.

According to student council advisor Emily Rennhak, since the affair hasn’t been held in so long, the planning committee is looking to similar ones they’ve experienced themselves for inspiration.

“(We’re) rebuilding based off of things they’ve liked from dances in more recent years,” Rennhak said. “Students haven’t planned this dance for so

If its snowing for three hours straight, there should be no school.”

“The severe weather team comes together during the winter. Depending on what’s happening, we could meet multiple times a day,” Osei said. “For example, earlier one week we made a decision in the morning to do an early dismissal, a staggered early release to try to ensure that students could keep the buses on schedule and try to beat some of the weather.”

Steinberg also said late starts give students more time to safely get to school and still complete a nearly full day.

“Late starts as well as early releases can be helpful, especially if the snow will be easier to drive on at that time. If reports are showing that driving at that time will cause less accidents and admin still wants to get in most of the school day, that’s a great idea and will help with people staying safe on the roads,” Steinberg said.

Math teacher Anson Opara said that Park should utilize its resources to do school work from home as this is something other schools have been exploring when the weather isn’t safe to come in.

“I wonder sometimes if we could possibly use the distance learning model because everybody has access to devices now. Instead of making people come into school if it’s questionable, just defaulting to that would be good and lots of other schools are doing that now,” Opara said.

According to Osei, another main factor playing into the decision to have a snow day is inconveniencing parents and families.

“For some of our youngest learners in the district, (closing school) has significant implications for parents when they find out either the night before or early in the morning that their child’s not going to school,” Osei said. “We want to make sure that we’re not making decisions that are negatively impacting caregivers’ ability to get to work and provide for their families.”

Best shops to win best dressed

- Lulus

- Cider

- Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack many years, so we’re leaning a lot on what we did for homecoming — growing and expanding off that.”

Senior and student council co-president Micah Davis said that while the planning comes with challenges, collaborating with the rest of the student body has helped to make it as successful as possible.

“Introducing all the things we want to do for Snow Daze is a new step and a learning process,” Davis said. “On top of that, we’re getting a lot of student feedback from previous dances like homecoming, so being able to bounce off those and understand what we can do better with the Snow Daze dance will make it more fun for all the other students.”

Along with the dance itself, the student council is planning several activities in the week leading up to the event. Rennhak said she is most looking forward to the dress codes and pep fest activities.

“I am really excited for the spirit days. The

- Macy’s

- Dry Goods

- Lucy in the sky

Infographic by Anya Panday students came up with some new ideas and I think they’re going to be really funny,” Rennhak said. “One thing I’m excited for with the pep fest is we’re going to have a student versus staff volleyball game. That’s something new we haven’t done before — I’m excited to see that play out.”

According to senior Lauren Thon, something she is looking forward to is the decision to select a student DJ rather than hiring one.

“I think that it is super cool that they’re doing a student DJ,” Thon said. “I know it’s been really requested by the student body and many, many people. I think that listening to the request — fulfilling the student DJ, I think that’s super dope.”

The Snow Daze dance will take place from 7-10 p.m. Feb. 11 in the high school field house. More information can be found on the student council Instagram.