I don’t know about the public schools closing but when I got to my class yesterday morning at the local jr. college the place was more than half empty.
The teacher and all of the students (including myself) who made it to class came by public transportation.
Around 11 AM, while I waited for the bus to come take me home (Yeah, I was a sissy twice yesterday. The wind was coming in off Lake Michigan so I took the bus rather than walk into the gale force wind and snow. I saved that joy for the hour I spent shoveling the snow later.), I watched grammar school age kids sled down the man made hills on the jr. college campus.
I asked myself, if they could brave the weather to go there and do that they certainly could have gone to school, no?
I had a bit to think about this and Caj’s comment about kids going to a local public school and just sitting there if they couldn’t get to their own.
I was reminded that years ago when the schools closed because of bad weather I had a choice of finding a babysitter or leaving my kids home alone while I went to work.
By the time the second choice was viable they were old enough to go to school no matter what the weather was.
When I worked nights the phone rang off the hook on “snow days” from the desperate single moms trying to find someplace safe to park their kids so they could go to work.
hyldemoer - there are a lot of considerations that go into deciding to call off school due to the weather.
First is whether you are in a state that has disaster days built into the schedule. Ohio has 5 built in, Kentucky has none. That means Ohio can have 5 days off before they have to start making them up. Kentucky has to make up every one that is called.
Second is how the bus system works. In our area, most buses run 3 or 4 routes in the morning (and the same in the evening). High school, the middle school, then elementary (and often a 1st and K, too). If the roads are bad enough that the high school bus takes a half hour longer, then the middle school takes another half hour longer, but the time you get to the younger grades, they won’t even get picked up until an hour after normal (at best). Growing up - I lived on the worst route. They would run a bus at about 3am - if it took longer than an hour to get back to the high school, school would get called off because it would just be too much delay by the time the buses got to the younger kids.
The most important, however, is the society we live in now that will sue over the least little thing. God forbid, if a bus had a wreck, can you imaging the liability that would come out of that? Schools must play it safe and close instead of taking a chance.
I’ve a good friend who’s been a superintendant in several different districts in several states. It’s never an easy decision - and usually they are up all night, getting road reports from the police, etc. in order to try and make a decision before 6am. My son catches his bus (he’s not on a yellow bus, but a Metro) at 6:20am, so that “call” must be made before 6.
A couple of pictures taken as dusk fell…I was in the house, and these were through the window so excuse the glare. Also, Séamus bumped my arm on the 2nd one But you can at least get the idea of how much the snow is drifting.
This one is of the road in front of the house. Can you see it? It’s right next to the mailbox
I was in for a surprise when I was heading out this evening. The snow was much deeper on my lawn than I thought, as my foot sank down in snow above my ankle. Hmm, I may have to shovel tomorrow morning after all, lest the postman decides to stop delivering till spring.
Umm, it’s supposed to get down to 42 degrees F here tonight . . .
I enjoyed those snow pix, Izz! Gosh, they look so magical! Every time it’s snowed someplace I’ve been, I sit in the window staring at it for hours. It’s such neat stuff!
Your second doesn’t make sense here in Chicago. Only 6% of the public school kids use a school bus to get to school.
I don’t think my kids ever were on a school bus unless it was for a class field trip and even then I recall the field trips I accompanied their class on we took the subway to get to the museums.
No, I think it was good logic the schools here in Chicago decided to stay open and told the kids who ride a bus to attend the closest school.
We had 10 to 11 inches with the usual high wind drifting but it didn’t cripple the city much. The public bus route I take to get to school is considered low volume so it only runs from 6 AM to 10 PM. Just the same the buses ran every 10 minutes during rush hour and every 20 minutes during off peak times.
When my husband got home from work that day he dealt with the snow, ate dinner and went to his music class. He said the school’s parking lot was full.
Me thinks those kids I saw sledding at 11 AM either were playing hooky or had really gullible parents.
Here’s a few more I took yesterday after the sun finally came back out. The trees were real pretty with the sunlight shining through the ice on their branches.
But you can at least get the idea of how much the snow is drifting.
Hmm, I may have to shovel tomorrow morning after all, lest the postman decides to stop delivering till spring.
That’s how high they are saying we might get UP to next week----my cats are really looking forward to it.
