Happy New Year!
Happy Cold Snowy New Year!
Happy Cold Snowy Beautiful New Year!
I am reposting this post from last year (Feb. 11, 2013), because it has been soooo cold, and tomorrow morning the warning is as follows:
... Wind chill warning remains in effect until 7 am EST Wednesday...
And kids are waiting for the school bus before 7 a.m. in some cases. So do we do another snow day? Or could we start a two-hour-delay trend? Why not?
Just saying...
Today was a snow day.
Now don't get me wrong. I love snow days, especially when there is snow to play in.
And I know that it was icy on the rural roads in the district at 5 a.m. But then it warmed up.
My friends in Pittsburgh (a city of many bridges that freeze) tell me that their schools often get a two-hour delay on days when it is icy in the morning but likely to warm up later.
I'm really not sure why none of our local schools seem to do this. It seems like this would have been the perfect solution in weather like today's.
And that is my bright idea!
Given that the wind chill advisory now extends until 9 a.m. I think local districts did the right thing by closing for the entire day. But in the future a two-hour delay might be appropriate!
ReplyDeleteAnd dear weather gods, couldn't you have spread out these snow days a little bit? Kids everywhere would have greeted each one with joy.
Did they ever do it when your oldest son was in AAPS? I have this vague memory of hearing about late starts on the radio, before I had kids in school. Maybe it was in Maryland? Except I don't remember listening to morning radio there...
ReplyDeleteI agree that a 2 hour delay is much better than no school at all in most cases. It would mean that the school districts would have to create a "short day" schedule, or a "skip these periods this time" schedule, possibly a different shortened schedule for elementary, middle and high schools.
ReplyDeleteUnless they matched their 2 hour delay of start times with a 2 hour delay of dismissal. Which would probably make everyone happier except the after-school-childcare providers.
Tricia, I don't EVER remember them doing 2-hour delays in ANY school district in the county. I don't know why, it's very common in other places.
ReplyDeleteAnna, I agree that the key would be that they would need to develop a 2-hour delay plan, that could be implemented at any time.
Ruth, AAPS has not put in place a 2 hour delay plan - at least not in recent memory including my years (long, long ago) as a student in the district. But we are investigating what this type of plan could look like. The three-tiered busing that we operate on is one of the reasons we have not done this in the past, but stay tuned...although we may find it is not functional (remember, a district needs 75% or more of the student enrollment to have a day count) we are looking into this.
ReplyDeleteLiz, I'm glad to hear this. Lots of districts do make it work (although they may be in other states, I'm not sure)--so I'd encourage you to ask around and find out what they do to make it successful. Why reinvent the wheel?
ReplyDelete