When I was growing up, my granddad would tell me tales about the winter of ’54, a winter so epic and so bitterly cold that a local lad who had the bright idea of licking the icicles on the Sablière bridge ended up with his tongue stuck to the railings. Warm water was apparently used to free him (my grandfather was a veritable source of anecdotes of dubious veracity). And then, in January 1986, a massive snowstorm hit my small village in the Ardèche, followed by an Arctic freeze that brought all activity to a standstill for two weeks.

Power outages, snow up to our hips, Siberian temperatures that stung our fingers and burned our ears, inaccessible roads, burst pipes, fuel frozen in tanks, helicopter supply drops, and, of course, no school! I have marvellous memories from those days of living on stolen time, when everything—or almost—was allowed: staying in bed late, rolling around in the snow, and talking for hours with friends. Despite the lack of heating, they were truly magical moments.

Obviously, back then, I never wondered who made the decision to close the schools; such thoughts were far beyond me. But here we are, with a huge snowstorm forecast for this weekend in New York, and we’re all glued to our phones waiting for the latest updates and trying to figure out whether schools will be open on Monday (or not). Here’s what we know as of Friday evening:

  • The decision lies with the Mayor of New York City – it’ll be one of his first “major” decisions since becoming mayor, and one that will be closely watched (we all remember the 2024 snowstorm that wasn’t)
  • Mayor Mamdani announced today that he will make the call by noon on Sunday. We will let you know by email as soon as we hear from the mayor.*

The mayor was very clear today that if schools are closed on Monday, it will be an online school day for public school students and teachers. It will not be a “traditional” snow day, but a switch from in-person to virtual learning. However, at The École, we are entirely free to decide what type of snow day it will be for us, and I want to be very clear that as far as I am concerned, a snow day is a day for sledding in the park, building snowmen, and throwing snowballs—a day to be enjoyed like a gift and spent far from screens and computers. If The École is closed on Monday, I encourage all of you—old(ish) and young—to enjoy every second of it and create the kind of memories that my grandad had of the winter of ’54, and I have of ’86.

I know some families have plans to spend the weekend outside the city, and if it turns out that schools are open as usual on Monday, I urge you, please, not to take any unnecessary risks on the road to make it back on time for school. As for me, I’m supposed to catch a flight to Atlanta on Sunday, and it’s looking unlikely right now…

Update: Mayor Mamdani announced that NYC schools would remain closed on Monday, January 26, so it is a snow day at The École (and Jean-Yves’ flight took off before the snowstorm hit, so he is attending the conference in Atlanta while the rest of The École community makes memories in the snow!)