At a Glance

E-learning is making school snow days a thing of the past. More and more school districts are turning to programs that allow kids to work from home.

To millions of kids and for decades, a school snow day meant an instant holiday filled with playing out in the snow, lazing around home watching TV or playing video games with friends. Those days of waking up at the crack of dawn to see if your school was named for a snow day are becoming a thing of the past.

Increasingly, school districts are relying on e-learning to allow kids to work from home and avoid losing classroom time to the weather.

In July, South Carolina's Anderson County School District 5 announced via social media that it had been chosen to “ in the state of South Carolina.” The school district's first e-learning day in October, Yahoo Finance reports.

"With today's technology, it makes so much sense, from the practical standpoint and financially," District 5 Superintendent Tom Wilson, who proposed the idea to the state's Education Oversight Committee (EOC) in May told the Independent Mail. ", and we have the technology in place to keep kids working during the snow days and eliminate the makeup days.

Each student in the district is provided a Google Chromebook with assignments already downloaded onto the device, making an internet connection unnecessary to complete their work.

Using Google Classroom, the students can submit their completed assignments. Teachers are available throughout regular school hours to answer questions and help with assignments.

Should a technical glitch occur, the students have a five-day grace period in which to complete assignments.

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The idea of replacing snow days with e-learning days means there are no days tacked on a the end of the school year to meet the 180 days of classroom time required by most states.

The idea has been met with some controversy. Some feel the children should be allowed to enjoy an occasional snow day from time to time.

"Ultimately, for students for decades," Michelle Dryer said in an opinion piece for studybreaks.com. "It’s the one other thing they look forward to in the winter besides winter break, and it even gives some kids extra time to spend with their parents and siblings sledding or building a snowman."

Many working parents are also not happy with the solution.

In a Washington Post letter to the editor, Melissa Matthews of Arlington, Virginia, noted that in addition to " of the joy of a snow day," e-learning can be "nightmare for working parents."

"As a working mom, I was brought to tears on e-learning days — we called it 'virtual school' — when such a policy was implemented at our international school overseas." Matthews wrote. "Trying to help my kindergartner, second-grader and fourth-grader do assignments while also meeting my work deadlines was simply impossible"