Not a snow day – it’s a solar day. VT schools give students day off for solar eclipse

CORRECTION: Mount Mansfield Unified Union school district is maintaining a partial day off, not a full day as was reported in an earlier version of this story. The numbers at the bottom were also adjusted to reflect removing MMUUSD.

Many northern Vermont students will now have the day off for the eclipse.

The Champlain Valley Superintendents Association decided that public schools in the counties of Chittenden, Franklin and Grand Isle will be getting a full day off instead of a partial day, which was previously planned.

Many school districts were planning for an early dismissal due to the timing of the eclipse, which lasts from 2:14 to 4:37 p.m., with totality between 3:26 and 3:29 for the Burlington area.

However, new information from Vermont Emergency Management has prompted districts to give the entire day off.

“As the day of the eclipse approaches, more businesses in the area have announced special viewing events, and state agencies are preparing for an anticipated influx of 150K visitors,” a March 13 note from Superintendent Rene Sanchez to Champlain Valley School District families reads. “Recognizing the potential challenges associated with the sudden surge in travelers, Vermont Emergency Management advised municipalities in their recent newsletter to prepare for possible stress on their emergency services and, in some cases, extreme traffic issues.”

The Maple Run Unified School District affirmed that school districts in Franklin and Grand Isle counties would be closed and that the day would be made up at the end of the school year, similar to a snow day.

These school districts plan to be closed on April 8:

• Burlington School District
• Champlain Valley School District
• Colchester School District
• Essex Westford School District
• Franklin Northeast Supervisory Union
• Franklin West Supervisory Union
• Grand Isle Supervisory Union
• Maple Run Unified School District
• Milton Town School District
• Missisquoi Valley School District
• South Burlington School District
• Winooski School District

Together, this means around 28,400 students will have the day off from school. These districts account for about 34% of the population of Vermont’s public school students from pre-K to 12th grade. It remains to be seen if businesses will follow suit and close for the day as well.

Contact reporter April Barton at abarton@freepressmedia.com or 802-660-1854. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter @aprildbarton.