By Abbie Stokes

Recently, a petition floated around Bellbrook High School and the rest of the school district to get Valentine’s Day — also known as the day after the historic Super Bowl of the Rams vs. the Bengals — off. However, the school district officials rejected the idea of taking off Monday as there is no serious reason to, and that there is also a four day weekend right after the Super Bowl weekend. This decision led to discussion about calamity days and the reasons behind them, as well as disappointment from the student body. 

Calamity days are when “the school day has started, but due to weather conditions or other calamity, the Superintendent dismisses school early,” according to the agreement between the Bellbrook-Sugarcreek Board of Education and the Sugarcreek Education Association. While the document says nothing more about the decision process for calamity days, they have historically only been used for inclement weather or dire circumstances, like the mini-covid outbreak that happened due to the Omicron variant or the snowstorm that also took place recently, and not situations like the day after the Super Bowl — even if it is an Ohio team going, and it’s an historic event in Ohio football history.

So while students aren’t getting Monday off, they can at least look forward to the four day weekend happening soon — and maybe hope for more snow.