The term “snow day” may take on a whole new meaning for students this winter.

Instead of students staying in bed or playing in the snow when school is called off, school districts now can opt for having up to five “flexible instructional days” as termed by the state Department of Education to keep students learning.

That means districts can present a plan for state approval to have students do school work remotely, online or otherwise, and have it count as one of the 180 required school days per year.

For a program to be considered for this school year, school districts need to apply to the state by Nov. 3.

The program was introduced last month.

However, the Seneca Valley School District has been considering a remote pilot program since last school year.

“Regardless of what the state recently came out with, we were looking at the possibility of doing some sort of flex day or cyber day at home,” said Tracy Vitale, superintendent.

“We don’t like the term ‘cyber day’ because it implies that everything that the kids do will be delivered via an online instructional mode, and that may not be true. So we decided there are multiple ways that kids could receive their instruction from home, and we’re in the process of making a list of options for our teachers.”

She said parents last school year asked her about remote days because there were several school day cancellations due to frigid temperatures and snow. Two of those days had to be made up at the end of the school year for Seneca Valley students.

Cancellations because of cold temperatures are “very frustrating for school administrators and for teachers because the reason is not snow. It’s not unsafe road conditions.

“But in this case, it was unsafe temperatures, and having students waiting at those bus stops was very concerning for school administrators,” Vitale said.

Seneca Valley has a thriving cyber school with about 700 students enrolled. The vast majority of students are hybrid students, taking traditional classes along with online ones in the school building.

This likely would make a smoother transition to roll out a remote program.

In a survey Seneca parents were given two years ago, 98 percent of respondents said they had Internet access at home and their children had access to it.

Vitale will present a specific “snow day” plan to the school board for approval later this month.

Some other superintendents in Butler County said they would consider such a program, although they haven’t laid out a specific plan yet.

“If we have exhausted our snow makeup days, then we might utilize that as an option,” said Eric Ritzert, Karns City School District superintendent. “Currently, we have six built in snow makeup days for this school year, and hopefully we won’t have to use all of them.”

The Butler School District also made up days at the end of the school year, pushing commencement from a Friday back to the next Tuesday.

“I think it’s a good option for school districts,” said Dale Lumley, Butler superintendent. “It’s something that we’ll look into and consider here.”