Jan. 24—Should another storm shutter Santa Fe Public Schools again this season, the wintry weather won’t deliver the full joy of a snow day.

Students will learn remotely rather than take the day off.

The district has used up its only two snow days scheduled for the 2023-24 school year, after calling off classes Nov. 30 and Jan. 8 when snowy and icy road conditions made it impossible to get students — and teachers — to campuses safely.

If those conditions repeat later this winter, students and teachers will shift to digital days, Santa Fe Public Schools spokesman Cody Dynarski wrote in an email.

All teachers in the district have prepared at least two days of online lessons for possible remote learning days, he added.

The potential for digital days is the result of two things far beyond the control of teachers or district officials: weather conditions and the 1,140 instructional hours newly required by state statute, said Grace Mayer, an art teacher at Milagro Middle School and president of the local branch of the National Education Association.

“Look, we have to get safely to and from work,” she said. “If we can’t do that — and the kids can’t be picked up by our buses because the streets are impassible or dangerous — then we have to cancel school.”

Remote learning is not a big deal, Mayer added. Most of the district’s students engaged in digital learning during much of the coronavirus pandemic, and many of them — particularly at the middle and high school levels — are used to a hybrid learning style that combines in-classroom instruction with independent work on laptops.

Besides, Mayer said, when it comes to snowy days in Northern New Mexico, “it’s a day or two.”

Lawmakers in 2023 passed House Bill 130, increasing learning time in public schools to 1,140 hours — up from previous mandates of 990 hours for primary schools and 1,080 hours for secondary schools.

After the change took effect this school year, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham appears to be doubling down on efforts to prolong instructional time. In late 2023, the Public Education Department — part of Lujan Grisham’s executive branch — proposed new rules to require 180 instructional days, much to the ire of teachers and district leaders.

Though the department has not yet officially promulgated the rules, Lujan Grisham reiterated her support for the 180-day requirement in her State of the State speech Jan. 16 and during a White House event Jan. 17.

Districts now build their annual calendars to reach the 1,140-hour threshold. Snow days, of course, don’t count as instructional time, even though days with one- or two-hour delays do.

So, if Santa Fe Public Schools called for another snow day — a day off school beyond the two built into its calendar — it would have to make up that time, Mayer said. For instance, the district would shave a day or two off spring break — a proposition that would likely be unpopular among teachers and students.

“We have no real option other than to go to remote days because, if we were to take snow days, we would have to extend the calendar,” Mayer said.

She also argued the city of Santa Fe has to do a better job of clearing and sanding roads on snowy days. Significant storms — like one earlier this month — strain the city’s snowplow crews, leading to criticisms of inadequacy.

Mayer said even in foul weather Santa Feans should be able to get to supermarkets, libraries and health care appointments as well as schools.

There are many options available to teachers on digital days, Mayer said. Some might teach lessons over Google Meets video calls. Others might direct students to a video and ask them to answer questions on a worksheet. Still others might assign independent reading.

Mayer will implement some of the remote lessons she created during the pandemic, asking her students to complete an art project at home if the weather doesn’t hold.