JACKSON TWP — The Seneca Valley School District will test a new method of teaching that allows students to receive instruction even when school is canceled due to bad weather.

The district has received approval from the state Department of Education to test a Flexible Instruction Day (FID), which is counted as a school day and goes toward the number of required instructional days.

It will be home-based instruction using computers.

Superintendent Tracy Vitale said Seneca Valley is one of the few districts statewide approved to have an FID. It applied last year to get the days, but due to changes in the state government with a new governor and a new secretary of education, that request was put on hold until this year.

“We are approved for at least three days, but we are going to try one,” Vitale said. “We are going to use it in a planned method, and if it works, we will consider it for future snow days not this year but next year.”

The FID will be Feb. 12, which is the district’s first snow makeup day. The district has four snow makeup days scheduled if needed.

Vitale said regardless of the weather on Feb. 12, the students will stay home and teachers may work at schools or remotely.

The instruction approach for students will be a combination of online and offline assignments. The instruction will be dependent on the teacher, subject and grade level. The type of instruction will be shared with students by the teachers before the FID.

Should students not have access to the Internet or to the assignments that are due, they will have 10 days to make up the assignment, Vitale said.

Jeanette Lahm, school board member, said she is pleased that the FID sounds flexible for working parents so that if the assignment can’t be done that day, the student still has time to make it up.

“I think that is very forward thinking,” she said.

Board President Eric DiTullio said having the planned FID shows that Seneca Valley is an educational leader. He noted the planned FID is an opportunity to work out problems before actual use later.

“We think it is a great way to try and pilot this day to see how well it works,” Vitale said. “We will then put out a survey to the parents and a survey to our teachers about what worked well and what didn’t.”

Information about the FID will be shared with students and parents in the future.