Principal’s Hilarious Way to Announce a Snow Day
Snow days are something children wish for every time inclement weather is announced. But in Wisconsin, where snow is a given and the state is prepared to clear roads quickly, this is an infrequent occurrence.
So when principal Jack Knaack from the Richmond Elementary school in Appleton was informed on Thursday December 2, 2022, that the district’s schools would be closed the next day due to extreme temperatures, he decided to announce it in a very unique way, reported NBC 26. This was the school district’s first snow day in many years and it was a moment Knaack had been well prepared for.
The big announcement
What made the announcement so hilarious is that it was made via a music video that was shown to the students and staff that Thursday afternoon. The video was a three-minute parody of Lil NasX’s “Old Time Road”, according to TODAY. But it was planned for years.
The video begins with Knaack getting his snowplow ready in his garage and driving it unto his driveway while singing: “Yeah, I’m gonna take my plow through my old driveway, I’m gonna snow blow out ‘til the end of the day.”
Then the next scene shows the principal in Wisconsin Badgers pajamas receiving the news from the superintendent of the school district. It ended with Knaack at the school singing: “We ain’t gonna have no school, ain’t gonna have no school.”
Knaack had been planning this for years but Mother Nature was not cooperative. “This is our first snow day, which is strange here in Wisconsin, first time in two years. So I’ve been kind of playing with this one for a while,” he told TODAY. He said that the song was “actually the short part.”
With his son as the camera man, the video was completed two years ago but the only thing missing was an actual snow day. He had to do some quick edits before the announcement because the school district changed superintendents in 2021.
Other funny snow day announcements
In December 2020, Bondy Shay Gibson, the superintendent of Jefferson County schools in West Virginia, sent a notice to the district’s children announcing a snow day. Even though the district was on distance learning, he wanted to give the students a break telling them to enjoy a day of sledding, hot cocoa, and snowman building.
Funny videos are not limited to Appleton, Wisconsin. A collection of snow day videos collected by NJ.com include one from Durham Academy in North Carolina featuring a parody of “Ice Baby Ice” by Vanilla ice, a parody of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” from Swartz Creek Community Schools in Michigan, and a parody of “In Da Club” by 50 Cent from Pontotoc County school district in Mississippi.
While inclement weather is not something to laugh about there is still something magical about a snow days. Having an unexpected day off of school, especially right before Christmas, is not only something to celebrate but also something to sing about.
