Norwich — When Superintendent Kristen Stringfellow asked staff and families if they preferred regular snow days or virtual learning days when the weather looked like it did Monday, or some combination, she was hoping for a clear direction.

She didn't get one.

When the responses from the 555 families who answered the survey were put in a pie chart, the result looked like a Peace sign, with nearly equally sized colored segments for each preference – 32.6% for traditional snow days to be made up in June; 29.9% for all virtual learning days, and 37.5% for a combination of the two. For the combination, Stringfellow proposed three traditional snow days to be made up in June, followed by virtual learning days for the remainder of the bad weather days.

Responses from the 307 school staff were a little clearer, with 56.3% preferring a combination of traditional snow days and virtual learning days, 23.1% for traditional snow days and 20.5% for all virtual learning days during bad weather.

“The majority of NPS stakeholders prefer that after three traditional snow days the remainder will be virtual,” Stringfellow wrote in the survey results report. “That will be the plan going forward, as long as there is not extreme concern about power outages on a planned virtual snow day.”

Monday was the second traditional snow day of the 2020-21 school year, and Tuesday will be the third and final traditional snow day. The three days will be added to the scheduled June 16 final day of school. Norwich does not build possible snow days into the calendar, Stringfellow said.

“Initially, I really thought staff and parents would prefer virtual snow days so that the make-up days did not extend the school year,” Stringfellow said.

But prior to the first snow day, she was surprised at the reaction from the majority of staff and parents who wanted a “nostalgic, traditional snow day,” so children could make snowmen, go sledding and have hot chocolate afterward. They weren’t concerned about being in school on warm days in late June.

“I think the combination, three traditional snow days and then virtual, are a nice compromise of preserving tradition and not over-extending the school year,” Stringfellow said.

William Priest, president of the Norwich Teachers’ League, said his only concern would be students caught in power outages during virtual learning bad weather days.

The last storm in mid-December included predictions of strong winds and potential power outages, so it would not have been suitable for a virtual learning day, Stringfellow said. The same could be the case Tuesday, with winds expected to pick up late Monday. The new plan can be adjusted, with virtual days converted into days off if power outages are predicted.

c.bessette@theday.com