Harland Kissel and Julian Galleta
Staff Writers
Due to the recent record breaking low temperatures and heavy snowfall, schools around Central New York have had many delays and cancellations. The Jamesville-DeWitt School District had used their two built-in snow days by the first week of January. Many sporting events and even the semi formal were cancelled because of weather, disappointing many students at J-DHS.
With the recent snow day on Feb 7., students and their families are concerned about how the third snow day, and any more potential snow days, could impact vacation time. There are 185 days where school must be in session, so the the district has to be carefully when building in snow days to the school calendar. “When you have too many snow days, you have to make them up somewhere,” said Principal Paul Gasparini, “there are some schools that have to cut into vacation time, and we are trying our best not to do that.” So far, vacation time has not yet been effected. The district office is responsible for making the decision on whether or not to cancel school. “The district office works behind the scenes to make sure there’s as little impact as possible on instructional time and on vacation time,” said Mr. Gasparini.
“It’s kind of been up and down, it’s kind of crazy because there’s snow one day and none the next,” said freshman Jacob Cottet. Although the unexpected weather has cancelled many of his swim meets, Cottet isn’t too upset. “I ski a lot, so the snow has been nice,” he said. On the other hand, freshmen Anna Fischi and Luke Reistrom have spent their snow days relaxing and catching up on schoolwork. “I like to stay inside, with a cup of hot cocoa and my big furry blanket, which makes me look like I’m from Game Of Thrones,” said Fischi. She also added her opinion on the temperature. “I want the temperature to get warmer so we can all take our tarps off our pools and pretend like it’s Florida.”
The temperature on some days has reached the high 50s, but has then gone back down to the single digits. Sophomore Tyler Brang appreciates the snow; “when it’s snowing, it’s pretty, and you get to see the snow on the trees, but when it’s warmer, the snow has melted and it’s ugly out.” Freshman Luke Reistrom prefers the cold weather for different reasons. “I want the temperature to get colder, that way we miss more meets, and I don’t want to swim.” He also stated, “I’ve been using my snow days to relax and catch up on homework.”
Juniors Amanda Semel and Patrick Murad both drive to school everyday and have been affected by this weather. “I’ve had to drive really slow to get to school, borderline late to my classes,” said Murad. “It’s been pretty cold and icy on the roads recently so it’s been kind of scary driving some days,” said Semel. “Just be prepared and you’ll be fine,” she suggested. Senior David Tyler explained a troubled experience the icy and snowy weather caused. “I was late to school one day because my truck got stuck in the driveway and I couldn’t get it out. There was an ice patch right underneath the tires so it got stuck in a snowbank.”
The weather in Syracuse has affected many people in the J-D community. It is causing car accidents, traffic, and many more negatives around the area. But people are using this as a time to catch up on many things, and relax. Although Syracuse is considered “crummy” to the majority of people living here, it is good to stay optimistic, because things can only get better as we get closer to spring.