For years, students across Colorado have taken advantage of snow days by sleeping in, watching TV, playing video games, sledding and of course drinking hot chocolate. 

AAA Colorado recommends residents prepare early for massive snowstorm

But for some, the dream of the next possible snow day seemed unlikely due to the transition to online learning fueled by the coronavirus pandemic. 

However, for students within the Denver Public School District, those dreams will live on as the district announced there will be no school in-person or online on  days with severe weather. 

Colorado officials: Avoid traveling during major snowstorm this weekend

“After gathering feedback, DPS leadership has created an outline for how we will handle severe-weather days for the rest of the 2020-2021 school year,” said DPS Interim Superintendent Dwight Jones in a release Wednesday.

On days where severe weather has created unsafe conditions for students and staff to commute to in-person, school officials will call for a traditional snow day and no one will be required to log-in online. 

Denver weather: Some rain, snow possible; major storm on track for weekend

However, if the weather system persists for several days and conditions remain unsafe for students and staff to attend in-person, the district will begin to transition to remote learning beginning on the second day. 

District officials will continuously be communicating with parents, staff and students beginning the day before a potential snow day to keep them informed of the ongoing situation.

This is designed to remind students and staff to properly prepare for a potential multi-day switch back to online learning by bringing their laptop and school supplies home in the event of a persisting winter storm system. 

Here are the district’s complete guidelines:

• For severe weather that is limited in duration, we will do a traditional snow day, with no in-person or remote learning. For this forecast storm, this means that if there are unsafe conditions on Monday, March 15, that will be a traditional snow day. We’ll be monitoring the weather closely and providing updates as needed through our normal communication channels.

• If there is an extended stretch of severe weather during the week and we are not able to safely allow students to attend in-person school for multiple days, then — starting the second day — we will pivot to remote learning. For this forecast storm, this means that if unsafe conditions persists, Tuesday, March 16, will be a remote learning day for all students.

• To support in planning and this shift, any time we are considering a potential snow day, we will send messaging to schools by mid-day the day before to remind students and teachers to prepare (such as by taking home computers) in the event that it becomes a multi-day event and we need to shift to remote learning. For this forecast storm, please remind your students to bring their computers home with them for this weekend.