Due to a power outage, Oakville Elementary School’s campus is closed today, Monday, Feb. 8, and students will have a virtual learning day.

The Mehlville School District told parents to look for an email from your child’s teacher later this morning with additional information.

Students have been used to virtual learning throughout the year in Mehlville schools, but for several weeks elementary students had not had any virtual days. Elementary students returned to five days a week of class in person at the start of the second semester Jan. 19.

In the past a power outage would have meant that school would have been canceled for the day, but Superintendent Chris Gaines said this year that a side effect of all the schools’ experience with virtual learning during the COVID-19 pandemic this year is that there will never be “snow days” again.

This year is the first year that the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, or DESE, allows “virtual snow days,” which means that while students may not be able to make it to school due to inclement weather, the school day can still be done at home that day, so make-up snow days will not be an issue.

“We think we’re very well prepared for that. We got the plan approved by the state and snow days are gonna look different into the future,” said Gaines in his State of the District speech in the fall. “At least we can use some of these virtual, blended learning experiences that we’ve had over the many months.”