Snow days, Zoom lessons and community efforts: How day schools weathered Fern

In a world of scant surprises, few unexpected announcements deliver such joy as “Snow day.” Though the hallowed declaration from Jewish day school leaders earlier this week sent scores of children outside to shovel vanished sidewalks, sled down Frick Park’s slopes and make the most of winter, the decision to disrupt regular classroom learning was hardly whimsical. With Winter Storm Fern delivering conditions unseen in Pittsburgh for nearly 15 years, school leaders relied on a familiar communication strategy, consulted with local officials and determined school specifics with students and families in mind.

Whether to close

As news of Fern’s arrival grew, Community Day School forecasted a possible shuttering. On Jan. 22, members of the administration asked teachers to send home Chromebooks and other materials with students “in the event that we had to have a flexible learning day,” Head of School Casey Weiss said.

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On Sunday, Jan. 25, CDS called a “traditional snow day” for Monday, but told families to prepare for a likely “flexible learning day” Tuesday.

Items sent home Jan. 22 — including Chromebooks and chargers with assignments posted on Google Classroom, as well as paper-and-pencil work for pre-K through third grade — helped ensure continuity of instruction on Jan. 27 and signaled an intent to return all students to in-person learning on Jan. 28, Weiss said.

At Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh, addressing the storm required a more “unique” approach than usual, Principal Yikara Levari explained.

With Jan. 26 slated to be the first day of school post-winter break, Levari and fellow administrators recognized a significant portion of students and staff would likely attempt to return to Pittsburgh from vacations on Jan. 25.

On Friday, Jan. 23, Hillel “decided to be proactive,” and let families know there wouldn’t be school on Monday, she said. “We just didn’t want to create extra stress or risks by having people rush back if we were 95% sure we were going to cancel anyway.”

Hillel declared a snow day for Jan. 26, but knew the rest of the week presented other challenges; with Fern arriving immediately after “our winter break we weren’t prepared for Zoom instruction,” Levari said. “If we would have been in school last week, perhaps we would have sent kids home with their devices, like we had for COVID.” Reflecting on the pandemic, she said the lack of uniform access to suitable devices meant “some kids would do the work and some wouldn’t, and it wouldn’t really be fair to everybody.”

With temperatures on Jan. 26 hovering in the teens, but feeling closer to 0 degrees at points, Hillel declared another snow day for Jan. 27.

Yeshiva Schools of Pittsburgh faced its own predicaments. Given that its Mesivta — a program for boys high school students — operates on Sundays and nearly 40 boys live in Yeshiva’s dorms, school administrators felt compelled to continue operations on Jan. 25, CEO Rabbi Yossi Rosenblum said.

One wrinkle, however, was ensuring teachers’ arrival.

On Jan. 25, 26 and 27, Rosenblum and others drove throughout Squirrel Hill and Greenfield to transport educators.

Though Yeshiva managed to operate the Mesivta on a relatively routine schedule, Yeshiva closed its other buildings on Jan. 26 — some departments maintained Zoom rooms for students to daven (pray) and hear words of inspiration.  Purposefully light on academics, the virtual sessions, Rosenblum said, were intended “just to give students some structure to the day.”

Yeshiva offered similar virtual opportunities to students on Jan. 27, as well as an optional in-person gathering from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for Girls High School students to pray and learn together as well as prepare for future programming.

The rooms where it happens

While school leaders told the Chronicle their institutions made decisions based on constituents’ needs, a broader conversation was underway.

Weiss, Levari and Rosenblum use a WhatsApp group to communicate various school and communal matters.

Frequent texts ensure “we’re all on the same page and know what each other is doing,” Levari said.

Weiss said she maintains similar communication with heads of other Pennsylvania independent schools, and when a consortium of members organized a Zoom call for Jan. 26 with representatives of Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O’Connor’s office, she invited Levari and Rosenblum to join.

The conversation, according to participants, concerned best practices for addressing the storm and recommendations from the City.

Following the Jan. 26 call, Dan Gilman, chief of staff to Mayor Corey O’Connor, told the Chronicle, “We are committed to providing all our school partners as up to date information as possible.”

Looking ahead, back and around

Frigid temperatures are expected to remain for days, as are many heaps of snow in Squirrel Hill. And despite CDS, Hillel and Yeshiva all offering in-person classes on Jan. 28, no institution has fully escaped the storm.

School leaders said that while they remain committed to providing the best possible education and prioritizing safety, the pandemic continues to influence current decisions.

“I lived through COVID as an employee of Pittsburgh Public Schools and I saw the harm and the detriment that years of remote learning did to students and their well-being,” Weiss said. “If we can be in person and have that continuity of learning, that’ the most important priority — our children.”

“We recognize our families are, thank God, quite large, so you have five, six, seven, eight kids in the house, and it’s hard on parents, and it’s hard on kids, to get serious learning done at home,” Rosenblum said.

“I do think that some of our families are still traumatized by COVID,” Levari said. “Especially families that have multiple children in the school.” If operating remote instruction means telling parents to oversee four to six devices at once, “we don’t really want to put that stress on our families.”

Education must be broadly understood because there’s a balance, school leaders said, between absolutely abandoning instruction and trying to teach 18 first graders sight words on Zoom.

For Yeshiva, learning during Fern and administering the annual fundraiser were “very much linked,” Rosenblum said.

In lieu of running an in-person program Jan. 25-26, Yeshiva asked participants to primarily participate virtually. Some activities were communicated through social media; other undertakings involved running call centers — such as one at Rosenblum’s house — where students and adults gathered to communicate the value of Jewish day school education to potential donors, he said. The storm forced Yeshiva to transition, but “we used this time in a productive way, and there was a great, great, energy, where everybody contributed.”

CDS encouraged families to safely assist neighbors and send in photos of their best “Winter Fern Service Snap,” with winners receiving a Bunny Bakes gift basket, Weiss said.

Additionally, CDS partnered with Bodiography on Forbes Avenue to offer open play for students in grades four through eight on Jan. 27.

Weiss called the collaboration a “huge win,” as parents were able to get a reprieve and “students were able to be social and get some of their energy out.”

We’re all in this together

Levari said she and fellow administrators remain in active discussion regarding future days: As the situation evolves “we are prioritizing safety and making sure with every effort that learning continues.” Reaching this point has required considerable participation, including involvement from the City of Pittsburgh, “and we feel really supported.”

On Jan. 27, CDS informed parents that “hot, complimentary lunch” will be provided for all CDS students Jan. 28-30.

The goal is to make “parents’ lives a little bit easier,” Weiss said. “We know that this has been a really hard time, and that folks might not have been able to make it to the grocery store.”

Calling a “snow day” isn’t always the easiest decision. Doing so during the last week, while braving conditions, reflects a communal climate, Levari said. “It’s nice to be able to consult with other people and to realize that we’re all kind of doing this together.”

“I’ve seen countless neighbors helping neighbors, and that’s a beautiful thing to see,” Weiss said. “I’m proud to be a Squirrel Hill Pittsburgher, and proud of all of us for working together to get through this.” PJC

Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.