That will only shorten their spring breaks or extend their school year further into June because state law prevents school districts in New Jersey from switching to remote learning on days when snow or other factors make it difficult or impossible for students and teachers to get to class.
School districts must instead announce either a delayed opening or a full snow day, giving teachers and students a day off.
Under state law, New Jersey public school students must be in classrooms for the day to be counted toward the minimum 180 days of instruction that are required. So, learning from home via video or doing remote schoolwork on laptops would not count as a school day under New Jersey’s rules.
However, the law includes an exception that was used during the COVID-19 pandemic. Remote learning may be offered when schools are closed more than three consecutive school days due to a declared state of emergency or a public health emergency, said state Department of Education spokesperson Michael Yaple.
“Any proposal to change the statute would need to be determined by the Legislature,” Yaple said.
Snow projections continue to rise for a “potentially historic” storm expected to paralyze New Jersey with widespread snowfall totals of 12 to 24+ inches today into Monday.
Blizzard warnings have expanded to the entire state with up to 60 mph winds, whiteout conditions and power outages possible.
“Life-threatening travel is expected and crippling impacts to infrastructure could last beyond Monday,” the National Weather Service warned.
New Jersey schools faced numerous days of delays and cancellations during last month’s snowstorm that also brought below freezing temperatures.
Other states have more flexible rules on allowing schools to offer remote classes in bad weather.
In New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani ruled out a snow day for New York City students last month. For this storm, however, kids will get the day off.
“No online school, no remote learning. Full classic snow day,” Mamdani told New York City students on Sunday.
Some New Jersey educators have sought for years, even prior to the pandemic, to loosen the state’s restrictions on remote learning. Efforts to change New Jersey’s law date back to at least 2015, when the Bergen County Association of School Administrators first endorsed learning from home as an option.
In 2016 and 2018, then-Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle, D-Bergen, introduced legislation that would permit up to three days of “virtual instruction” when schools close due to weather or other emergencies.
Neither bill came up for a vote.
A similar bill was introduced in the state Legislature in 2024, but did not come up for a vote before the legislative session ended last week. The proposed law would have allowed New Jersey schools to offer remote classes for “one or more school days due to inclement weather or hazardous transportation conditions.”
Richard Bozza, executive director of the New Jersey Association of School Administrators, has offered support for allowing remote learning when it snows or due to problems unrelated to weather, such as a malfunctioning boiler.
”It’s hard to understand, post-pandemic, why this hasn’t moved. It makes absolutely perfect sense,” Bozza told NJ Advance Media in 2024.
The New Jersey Education Association, the state’s largest teachers’ union, has not taken a position on changing the law to allow remote learning on snow days, spokesperson Steve Baker said Friday.
Some school districts have also pushed for New Jersey to make exceptions to the limits on remote learning.
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