What's a snow day -- or even a delayed opening -- without the requisite snow day announcement hosted by your school principal or superintendent?
While some schools kept it traditional with a phone call informing parents of their wintry verdicts (or spiced up the call with a snazzy song parody), other school administrators used the deluge of snow on Thursday to score some bomb cyclone points with students, teacher and parents on social media.
Hopewell Valley Regional School District, no stranger to a good snow-day video, employed the dulcet tones of a school chorus and band, setting its video (more than 4,000 views on YouTube) to a snow day song based on the melody from "Ho Hey," by Ramsey's very own Lumineers, complete with ukulele, cajon and guitar accompaniment and paper snowflake props (not political). In the same Facebook post, the district looked ahead to summer. "FYI: THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL IS NOW JUNE 20, 2018."
The chorus, courtesy of students from Hopewell Elementary: "Jumpin' up and down, dancin' all around, it's a snow day!"
If that wasn't enough, Superintendent Thomas Smith offered a "funny joke."
"What do you call a snowman in the summer? .... A puddle!
What a guy!
Perhaps you'd prefer a cold-weather standard.
Paramus Public School District put its own spin on "Baby, It's Cold Outside," the celebrated Frank Loesser song from 1944 that is considered a Christmas classic but has often been derided for its misogynistic implications.
Superintendent Michele Robinson leads the charge in the district's cutesy snow day music video, accompanied by other administrators and educators as well as police officers, parents, students and Mayor Richard LaBarbiera. The clip currently boasts nearly 200,000 views on Facebook.
"Ya think it'll snow?" she sings, pulling into the office parking lot. ("Hey, but it's cold outside," urge a few teachers who inexplicably pop up in the back seat of Robinson's car.) "The wind's starting to blow," she continues. ("We're gonna slip and slide," a few staffers chime in, standing outside a school bus.) "I wonder if I should cancel school?" ("Please keep us notified," plead a group of parents, sitting at home, waiting by the phone.)
The video ends with Robinson cleaning snow off the floor.
"It's not a snow day for me," she opines.
Of course, these aren't the only school snow day videos to be had for the storm. There have been many other efforts tagged to snow events over the years. Here are some others. (Please, let us know in the comments about any others circulating on your feeds.) A happy snow say to all of those observing.
"Snow Day Tomorrow," Hopwell Valley Central High School Bulldog Cheerleaders, 2015
Short and to the point, with another guest spot from Superintendent Thomas Smith, dressed as a bulldog mascot.
Let's just say Hopewell Valley is a trusted purveyor of snow day entertainment. Consider this statistics class-themed delayed opening announcement, also from 2015 (thanks again, Dr. Smith, who is again a veritable patron saint of YouTube snow announcements):
Even though this one isn't from New Jersey, it went viral in 2014 and now claims more than 5 million views on YouTube.
Durham Academy in Durham, North Carolina took full advantage of its head of school's mastery of Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby" in this clip: "Stop, collaborate and listen/Ice is back and the roads will glisten/Polar Vortex has a hold of us tightly/Wind like a harpoon, daily and nightly."