Schools have long been accused of "grade inflation", the process by which it takes less and less effort to receive the same grade. I think we're going to now have to use the term "weenie inflation" to describe how LPS administrators are becoming bigger and bigger weenies in the face of inclement weather.
Don't get me wrong. There are plenty of unpleasant components to today's forecast. But calling off classes? Let's review:
- The forecast high is 18 degrees;
- Two to four inches of snow are expected throughout the day;
- The wind is forecast to be light this morning, 5-10 mph by midday, 15-25 by late afternoon, and 25-35 tonight.
I totally agree with preemptively canceling after school activities. That makes perfect sense. But wasting a whole day of instruction because it's going to get chilly late this afternoon and tonight? It seems so wasteful. This is a perfect example of an occasion where a half day would make sense. Or at least a teacher and administrator work day. Say what you will about the kids, but there's absolutely no reason why the adults shouldn't report to work.
After I saw that classes were canceled for the day I began to reminisce. I can think of only one day that classes were canceled due to (forecast) cold when I was a kid. The forecast called for windchill values of -60 to -70. That's cold! But as I remember it, the wind hardly blew that day and the sun shone throughout. The forecast was a bust. Though it was still plenty cold -- below zero, I'm sure -- I played outside with my friends. It's hard to play basketball when the ball won't bounce and you're so bundled up you can't even raise your arms to shoot.
I should really stop ranting so much about LPS's cancellation policies...
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See what your friends and neighbors have to say about this.
“In my day, it was -70 degrees, and I walked uphill both ways to school…without shoes!” 😊
I can see where the frustration comes from, but I’d say better safe than sorry. Fewer cars on the street = fewer accidents and easier work for the plows.
I’m not sure this blog is the appropriate venue to discuss your inflated weenie. Just sayin’ ...
We went to school in a lot of crappy weather, but I’m not sure it was a good thing or if it was all that wise. I think the current superintendent has a far better understanding of the number of kids who actually WALK to school than the previous guy ever did.
Anything that was to be taught today can easily be taught when class resumes.
I know you loathe the snow days….
So if school cancels, who is supposed to watch my children? You want me to go to work? Sorry, I called in today so I could spend the day with them. A lot of day care, and other institutions are closed, and a lot of people do not have extended family in town. So you want me to leave them at home alone?
I also note you did not like the other snow days, because you felt as though it was the villages job to feed, and make sure the children were warm.
None of us want children to freeze or starve, but really is that schools job?
I would certainly not want to be the person in charge of making the school cancel call. Darned if they do and darned if they don’t.
I know I would certainly not want to be a bus driver on these current one lane residential areas….that has potential for disaster. Especially considering the streets current condition. the residential areas are a disaster.
Being a teacher myself, I would like to interject, that while a snow day is a nice day off to teachers as well, it usually just messes with our plans and most would just as soon not have them. Especially seeing that if we have any more school days, we will have to start giving up vacation days.
I’ve been sticking up for the pampered youth of today quite a bit lately, because it’s been pretty common to hear some variation of “We didn’t get nearly this many days off when I was a kid!”
We didn’t get this many days off of school when we were kids because, with a few exceptions in the past century, we didn’t have prolonged winter weather like this when we were kids. The closest we’ve had to this extended period of snow, blizzard conditions and dangerous wind chills is the early ‘80s, and then you have to go back to the ‘60s and the ‘30s to find the only storms that were all-around worse than what’s been going on lately.
It shouldn’t take more than a look outside to notice that this isn’t like the typical winter conditions that gave us “tough guys” only one or two snow days.
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