SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – Remote learning, a vestige of the covid days for school kids, will no longer be the alternative of choice to winter weather in District 186. Superintendent Terrance Jordan says the district will return to cancelling school for a snow day. That means the days will have to be made up at the end of the school year.

Jordan said the reasons to move away from e-learning are: the benefits of in-person instruction; the cost of maintaining, repairing, or replacing devices; and reducing screen time. “We have to be honest,” said Jordan. “We just don’t have the funding to buy new devices, and we can better protect the devices that we have if we keep them at school.”

“We’ve kind of been on a little bit of a ripsaw ever since this has been an option,” said board member Micah Miller. “It was kind of a lot to digest in a short amount of time.” On the other hand, Miller said, having snow days lead to an extended school year. “I’ve seen the arguments for and against it.”

Also, effective next year, the district will hold class on Veterans Day in exchange for being off on the day before Thanksgiving. That is pending a school board vote.