The Swine Flu has been the cause of several school closures and a massive snowstorm has prevented many Colorado schools from business as usual today.

Illness and weather can impact a school operating schedule in a brick-and-mortar institution, but those variables have little impact on the online learning community.

Even if a large percentage of online students were absent due to illness that would not necessary equal the need of shutting down an online school.

If an instructor is home sick he or she can sometimes still hold class because they do not need to leave home for work. The same if the teacher is home with a sick child.

Sometimes a virtual real-time lesson can be replaced with a student assignment and scheduled for a different day, without impacting learning momentum for the e-student. And of course, there are teacher substitute options.

The brewing October snow, which is projected to plop between 1-2 feet of snow on Colorado in two days, might prevent kids in traditional schools from going to class for the next day or two whilst the virtual students are pressing ahead uninterrupted.

Much attention is given to the advantages of students who spend more time in their learning environments and it looks like a bad year of the flu--or inclement storms--could allow online students to do exactly so. It would be interesting to have future data available today on the difference between an online student and a kiddo that attends facility dependent education programs.

Will H1N1 and hazardous weather serve as a wake-up call for schools to create virtual learning options and urge political leaders to create policies to encourage such explorations?

There is a gaggle of pint-sized snow-dayers glaring suspiciously at me from the kitchen table. If this article suddenly disappears off the internet, I have a working list of tiny suspects...

More Information:

Info 101: What is an Online charter school?

Education 101: What is a charter school?

Obama says yes to shorter summer vacations

Info 101: Directory of State and National Charter School Organizations

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Karin Piper is the author and speaker of USA News Best Books 2009 finalist Charter Schools: The Ultimate Handbook for Parents (Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing), which boasts more than 30 chapters of must-know information and a complete school research guide for parents seeking charter schools.

At the Examiner we always appreciate learning about updated information and current events.

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