Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship, in partnership with Vermont Public.
More snow in the forecast means the chance for more snow days. And at the Schoolhouse Learning Center in South Burlington, Head of School Liz Shayne has a unique way of letting students and families know when school is closed: parody songs.
Shayne has been announcing snow days through song for a decade. Notable titles include “Scrape it Off,” a play on Taylor Swift’s “Shake it Off,” and “Cars Can’t Get No Roadway Traction,” a spin on the Rolling Stones track “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.”
It all started in 2015 when a head of school in Rhode Island made a snow day parody music video that went viral.
“So when that came out, one of my colleagues sent me the link and the words, ‘What are you going to do, Liz?’” Shayne said. “And that was it. The gauntlet was thrown.”
Shayne makes a new song each year. And it’s a family affair.
“I have a brother who lives in Nashville, and one who lives in Los Angeles,” she said. “The one in Nashville has a recording studio in his basement. And so we do this together when we gather at Thanksgiving every year in Nashville.”
Her family has a long history of writing spoof songs.
“It’s something our parents used to do,” she said.
One of Shayne’s brothers writes for children’s animated television shows, and the other brother is a retired finance manager who writes and performs country songs about the economy as his alter ego Merle Hazard.
So, she said, there’s a lot of creativity in the family.
“My niece often sings back up. My partner sings back up. There’s one [song] where the whole family got involved, and roommates got involved — that was a crazy one,” she said.
Shayne said when she first started her snow day song tradition, some people were surprised.
“My job is so serious, and nobody thinks I have a sense of humor,” she said. “So there was some shock that I had a sense of humor.”
But now, she said, families expect the early-morning earworms.
“It’s become sort of an anticipated thing when there’s a possibility of a snow day,” she said. “My joke is, ‘Well, I’ll just go home and warm up my voice, and we’ll see if there’s a snow day tomorrow.’”