Click on the post for the latest from the Wisconsin State Journal on the effort of Madison schools to update the cold weather closing policy. Under the new standard of closing when the weather hits -35 wind chill, the schools would not have been closed on Monday had this weather happened again.
The late announcement of closing is particularly harmful to families at the economic edge-----40% of Madison students are in this classification, and these families face termination from their employers if they miss time from work due to the limited benefits that they have for sick leave. The late cancellation provides no adequate time for these families to provide for care for their children. So-- in summary----the cold winter closing is a BIG deal for these families. This does explain why many schools are so reluctant to close in advance ----- because where the numbers are close, the schools would like to stay open at all costs. The problem here in Evansville was the busses. When the busses do not start the decision is pretty clear cut.
I do not remember a cold weather closing like Monday in the last 16 years in Evansville. Anyone with a longer memory please comment.
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Wait.... so we have to reach the point where "wind chill temperatures are expected to be hazardous to life within several minutes" to merit school being closed?
ReplyDeleteThis does not seem right. Many students walk to school, and it takes more than "several minutes" to walk to school.
Also, think about the families who have troubles affording adequate clothing for their children to stay warm.
This policy really needs to be rethinked, unless the school system wants to be hit with a lawsuit next time because a student became frostbit from walking to school.
I'm hoping it was not just the bus issue that caused the closing. Of course, school has to close if buses can't start. But, the safety of children and staff ought to be the first concern. Small children have a way of losing crucial winter clothing. Older ones simply often don't think it's cool to wear winter clothing. Waiting until the morning to decide gave families no time to scramble for day care.
ReplyDeleteCommon sense goes a long way. It should be used.
ReplyDeleteI have a different take on the school closing. First of all, I'm sure the busses were a problem because our diesel Jetta wouldn't start on Monday morning either. However, why didn't the bus company anticipate this and put the "heet" in the engines on Friday when this cold snap was predicted? That's all it took to de-gel our diesel fuel and start the engine.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I saw 2 kids walking back from the sled hill at 3pm on Monday. This is not a safe activity for this kind of weather and it seems that for some kids, school would have been a safer place to be on Monday.
The first school to call off classes did so during the early part of the Super Bowl and they started the ball rolling. Maybe they did so because their boiler blew up. Who knows? But their action snowballed and soon everybody had called off school.
My husband went to school in Superior and never remembers school being called for cold. I'm pretty sure they regularly see 10-20 below temperatures and manage to plan accordingly. I went to school in Michigan where we must have seen our share of below zero weather, and never recall them calling off school for the cold. I was in a district that never called classes off for any reason and I'd have remembered that!
Had the busses started, I think it would have been a better idea to hold school, certainly for those 2 kids I saw at the sled hill and certainly for the parents scrambling to find proper care for their kids on that cold morning. From the perspective of a homemaker, the cabin fever factor required much rammming around in the gym that wasn't available for our kids that day...