The snow hasn’t even started falling yet, and superintendents across New Jersey are already staring at the same old decision tree.
Delay the opening. Close the buildings. Or roll the dice and hope the roads hold.
What they can’t do—even as forecasts warn of heavy snow, sleet, and ice—is tell students to log in from home.
As a powerful winter storm bears down on the region this weekend, New Jersey school districts remain legally barred from using remote instruction for snow days. It’s a rule that feels increasingly out of step with both the weather and the moment, especially as neighboring states prepare to move classes online if conditions turn dangerous.
In New York City, officials have already made that clear. If the storm worsens, students won’t get a traditional snow day. They’ll get school—just not in person.
In New Jersey, that option doesn’t exist.
Under current state law, a school day only counts if students are physically present in a classroom. Online lessons, virtual check-ins, and at-home assignments don’t qualify toward the required 180 days of instruction. The rule applies regardless of whether students have laptops, internet access, or teachers ready to go on Zoom.
There is one narrow exception. If schools are closed for more than three consecutive days because of a declared state of emergency or a public health crisis, districts can pivot to remote learning. That’s the provision schools relied on during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Short of that, there’s no flexibility.
Meteorologists say the incoming system could dump significant snow across much of the state from Saturday night into Monday. Some models show totals exceeding a foot in parts of North and Central Jersey. Others highlight a troubling band of ice that could make roads treacherous even where snowfall totals stay lower.
It’s exactly the kind of storm that forces school leaders to choose between safety and instruction—a choice many thought was behind them after years of pandemic-era adaptation.
Instead, districts are once again stuck counting closures.
The frustration isn’t new. For nearly a decade, lawmakers in Trenton have floated proposals that would allow schools to use a limited number of virtual learning days during severe weather or emergencies. Bills introduced in the mid-2010s went nowhere. A more recent attempt stalled before the legislative session ended last year.
Supporters argue the change would reflect reality. Schools already have the technology. Students are already used to logging in. Allowing a handful of remote snow days, they say, would preserve instructional time without putting families or staff at risk.
Opponents raise familiar concerns: unequal access to technology, inconsistent quality between districts, and the challenge of oversight. Some worry that remote days could quietly replace in-person learning rather than supplement it.
The debate has left New Jersey in an awkward middle ground — no longer allergic to virtual learning, but unwilling to formally embrace it outside of emergencies.
A handful of districts have sought special permission to use remote instruction for non-weather disruptions, like building closures or election-related conflicts. Those requests are reviewed individually by the state. None have resulted in a broader policy shift.
So when the snow starts falling this weekend, the playbook remains unchanged.
Buses will be idled. Robo-calls will go out before dawn. Parents will check district websites and group chats, waiting to see if it’s a delay or a closure. What they won’t see is a link to a virtual classroom.
For all the ways the pandemic reshaped education, snow days in New Jersey remain stubbornly traditional—governed by rules written for a world where learning only happened inside four walls.
Until the law changes, winter storms will continue to pause the school day entirely here, even as other states find ways to keep it going.
The New Jersey Digest is a new jersey magazine that has chronicled daily life in the Garden State for over 10 years.