Chatham Got A Snow Day, Thanks To Superintendent's Wife And Mom

CHATHAM, NJ — The School District of the Chathams will have its snow day Thursday, and that's partially thanks to Superintendent Dr. Michael LaSusa's family. LaSusa originally made Thursday a remote learning day before a few factors made him reconsider Wednesday night.

"The storm appears to be as bad or worse than advertised, and my concern over power outages has increased since this morning," LaSusa wrote. "On top of that, both my wife and mother told me I was a fool for not calling a snow day. I can generally live with one of them thinking that, but when they both feel that way, I know I am in a bad place."

"Snow days" in the winter of the coronavirus have been up for debate at many New Jersey schools. Do you give the kids a true day off to have fun, or do you stick to remote learning now that schools have the capabilities?

Originally, LaSusa announced Chatham schools would go virtual for Thursday. He knew some wouldn't like his decision, but he explained his reasoning.

LaSusa wanted to save the school's available "snow days" for 2021 to prepare for several scenarios, including losing power unexpectedly or taking a day for teachers to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The district has four available snow days.

"The fact that we will implement virtual learning on Thursday does not mean that there will be no snow days or other days off this year," he wrote Tuesday. "I will consider each day on a case-by-case basis. For this first snowstorm, we are one week away from the longest break of the school year, we have the opportunity to plan for the day in advance, and both our middle school and high school have recently suffered disruptions to in person learning."

But LaSusa reconsidered. He also told the school community to look out for announcements on the status of schools on Friday.

Jersey Central Power & Light reported no outages is Chatham as of 10:30 a.m. Thursday.

LaSusa's wife, Jessica, is the supervisor of world languages and fine and performing arts for the West Morris Regional School District, which kept school closed Thursday.

The National Weather Service says Chatham got 2 inches of snow, but that total hasn't been updated since 6:30 p.m. Wednesday — only a couple hours into the storm. Parts of Morris County, including Roxbury and Rockaway received at least 8 inches of snow.

Chatham Middle School, meanwhile, will go remote until returning Jan. 11 for in-person classes. The district's update followed announcements from earlier this week that someone in the school tested positive for the coronavirus and dozens went under quarantine. Read more: Chatham Middle School Going Virtual Until Jan. 11

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