Schools have to decide whether to open their doors when temps drop dangerously low or when storms roll in.

But with today's technology and alternative learning options are school snow days a thing of the past?

FOX56’s Jake Sarwar spent the day looking into how districts make the call.

Bright and early on Thursday, Punxsutawney Phil was awoken and unfortunately saw his shadow, which according to legend, means that we are in for six more weeks of winter.

For many years during the winter months, students would wait to see their schools name pop up on tv or online saying that they were closed.

But recently, more schools are starting to go the virtual route, instead of using the traditional snow day.

I stopped by St. Jude’s School in Mountain Top to learn more about their procedure. The school’s Principal, Sr. Ellen Fishcer tells me that they include traditional snow days in their school calendar but have used them all already as of February 2nd.

“In our schedule for the calendar year, we build in four snow days, now you can imagine being here in Mountain Top, we have already used up all four of our snow days, so going forward, we will have virtual learning for any additional snow days” says Sr. Fischer.

Fishcer says that she is glad the Diocese has built in snow days but if they do have to go virtual, assignments will vary based off the age of the student.

“There are some assignments given on the chromebooks, touching base with the teachers, and then the older kids have live sessions as well we try to adapt as best as we can”

Other schools in the area have also implemented a flexible instruction type of schedule. Dr. Jon Pollard, the Superintendent of Wyoming Area School District says that one of the hardest decisions to make as Superintendent is to close or not to close.

Pollard also believes families in the district understand flexible instruction days because it keeps the district on track for the end of the year.

“Anecdotally, most families seem to find the flexible instruction day a good way to keep the end of the school consistent. In the past, and when we are very certain of a weather event, we have used the "traditional" snow day" says Pollard.

Since the pandemic and the introduction of Zoom and Microsoft Teams in schools, many districts seem to have implemented more flexible and virtual options when it comes to snow days.

If schools opt for traditional snow days, they may have to add days on to the end of their year, making summer break come a little later.