But she said she expected attendance to be lighter than normal, given that many of the school’s parents have told her they have similar plans for letting their children have a one-day vacation.

Snow days were a thorny issue even before the pandemic. In New York City, only 11 snow days were called from 1978 to 2013, decisions that parents alternately praised and criticized. Mr. de Blasio was chided last year for calling school off seven times in his first five years in office.

Such calculations can have particularly harsh consequences for school leaders who make the wrong call, as flawed snow day decisions are among the top reasons that superintendents are fired, said Daniel A. Domenech, the executive director of the American Association of School Administrators.

With complicated logistical and political factors to consider, officials in some areas were already looking for ways to eliminate the potential for school cancellations because of the weather. And this year, many education experts say that keeping students in class is especially vital.

“Particularly because kids have already lost so much learning time, adding to that for no good reason just seems bizarre,” said Joshua Goodman, an associate professor of education and economics at Boston University. “We’re literally in a world in which it’d be super easy to cancel school for an hour of play or give them a break in the middle of the day.”

This year, several districts in New York, including Buffalo’s, Pennsylvania and Vermont plan to opt for traditional days off for snow. In Westchester County, one district will proceed with snow days as usual, noting that negotiations with teachers’ unions would be needed to make a change. Some New Jersey districts that are mixing in-person and remote classes will wait to see how severe a snowstorm is before making a decision.

School officials in Mahwah, a medium-size district in Bergen County, said in a letter to parents that winter weather offered an opportunity for “memory-making,” and that remote classes would not be held if school would otherwise be canceled.