The Strange Reason One Christian School Closed on a Friday

Some students attending a small, private Christian school in Washington state awoke to find out Friday classes were cancelled. Neither inclement weather, power outages nor other common school closings were cited. Just the opposite in fact.

The 205 sun-deprived students at Bellingham Christian School were given a "sun day."

"SCHOOL CANCELLED DUE TO GREAT WEATHER! WAHOOO!" the school's website announced Thursday night. "Yeah! It's a Sun Day today and everyone gets the day off from school."

(Image: BellinghamChristianSchool.org)

Principal Bob Sampson said he wanted to give students some time to re-energize and enjoy the weather, adding that he wanted to re-create the excitement snow days get among the kids. He began teasing the possibility of giving the day off earlier in the week.

"In a world that's got a lot hard things going, it's fun to create a moment joy," Sampson said, according to the Associated Press.

The forecast for Western Washington calls for a weekend of sunshine, with highs hitting the low 80s in some parts of the region on Sunday.

The sun day was also made possible because there weren't any days off because of snow this school year.

"Kids just love the anticipation of sitting around see if school is canceled when it snows," he said. "You know, we haven't had any snow days, so I thought `how fun would it be to create that anticipation for kids when it's nice out?'"

Sampson surveyed parents to make sure the day off wouldn't cause any hardships and floated the idea with the school board before canceling school, he said. The 22 staff members will also get the day off, he added.

Sampson and another staff member will be at the school bright and early, though, to welcome any students who didn't get the notice.

The principal asked students to take pictures of what they do on their sunny day off. He plans to show the pictures at an assembly Monday.

It's not the first time the school has given students the day off because of sunshine. The last time was two years ago.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Featured image via Shutterstock.com.