The National Weather Service issued a Wind Chill Warning yesterday for Ramsey and Hennepin Counties, predicting wind chill values between 35 and 40 degrees below zero across all of central and southern Minnesota. Heeding the warning for “dangerously cold wind chills,” the BSM administration has called in an online school day for the second time this school year.

While online school in the past has been met with mixed results from both students and teachers, Senior High Principal Dr. Sue Skinner reassures that “We [the BSM staff] always like to see our students face to face; that’s our top preference. When extreme weather conditions make that unsafe, calling online school is a viable option. When making the decision to move to online school, we gather all the relevant information and are thoughtful and prayerful about the decision.”

However, not all students are keen on the idea. “Though I think it’s better to be safe in weather like this, I’m not too in favor of having an online school day tomorrow when finals are a week away. Sure, we can use it as an extra day to study, but online school days are packed with busy work and notes that we wouldn’t have much time to study anyway,” sophomore class president Joe Blake said.

Ultimately for the staff, the decision to have an online school day is for the safety and wellbeing of the student body. “With the temperatures predicted, skin can freeze in 10 minutes. Also, as we saw this morning, road conditions can be dangerous when the temperatures are this cold. Online school, which is not a free day, allows us to move the curriculum forward without putting students in a potentially dangerous situation,” Dr. Skinner said.

However, it seems that the BSM students will continue to hold their ground on the topic of online school. “It’s supposed to make up for a school day, but it’s not a school day,” Blake said.