Is it really about student safety?
By crazynurse
@crazynurse (7482)
United States
January 18, 2008 10:47am CST
I am so angry. Twice this week our local school district has cancelled school at 7 AM due to 'potentially' unsafe road conditons. Mind you, NO SNOW, just a prediciton that snow might occur. What we had was rain and a tiny bit of sleet with some very cold temperatures. I could understand the district worrying about student safety....BUT, after receiving no further rain or sleet and the sun shining bright during the day, by 7PM it is getting very cold again and beginning to mist rain. It became colder than it had been at 7AM! Guess what? The scheduled basketball game went on as planned!! All the high school students were out driving on the now potentially dangerous roads again!! Is it really about student safety?
6 people like this
12 responses
@JoyfulOne (6232)
• United States
18 Jan 08
While one would hope it's for student safety, it doesn't always appear to be so. You would have thought that they would have cancelled the game due to the worry of potentially icy roads! In my school district they hardly ever cancel unless it's for loss of power, or the roads are icy at the beginning of the day. They do however send kids home if the day continues to get worse for travel. I live in the snow belt area in NE Ohio, and we have bad weather all of the time, weather that would close most other schools. I think it's poor judgement not to close when the driving is risky, and to not cancel the basketball game doesn't make any sense at all.
2 people like this
@crazynurse (7482)
• United States
18 Jan 08
Sadly, our schools are paid 14 dollars a day for each student present. So if they don't cancel, many parents keep their children home because they are afraid to get on the roads or they are afraid that the buses will wreck. Attendance would go down and therby their funding. So I think it is all about money. As a poster above pointed out, they also would miss the revenue from the basketball game. It really does make me sick!!
2 people like this
@JoyfulOne (6232)
• United States
18 Jan 08
You know, I never really thought about the money angle of it, but that's a good point. With our school system, they never bring up the money angle, but they do bring up that if they shut down for the day, extra days of school will be needed at the end of the year to make up for those days lost. I'll have to agree, it's probably mostly the funding that they're thinking about, and not wholly the safety angle. As far as keeping the scheduled games, I'm sure it's the revenue that counts more...although the phrase you hear bounced around more often than not is that it'd be hard to reschedule.
1 person likes this
@angieang (262)
• United States
18 Jan 08
Crazy! I wish they would cancel school around here for reasons such as that! I guess money speaks louder than safety, the school can make up the day they missed, but they wouldn't be able to make up for the proceeds they recieve from extra curricular activities.. Just a thought.
2 people like this
@angieang (262)
• United States
18 Jan 08
I would definately find a way to address that issue around the school district. Maybe other parents weren't as observant as you have been. Then the parents could bond together and confront the school board...that is if you guys have a school board from where you are from.
1 person likes this
@Thoroughrob (11742)
• United States
18 Jan 08
Around here, if school is closed, the activities are canceled. That is the way it should be. I cannot believe that yours would still have the games. That is so wrong.
2 people like this
@GardenGerty (157551)
• United States
18 Jan 08
In our neck of the woods, if the schools are closed during the day then all of the extra curricular activities are cancelled as well. Consequently we often do not close school, when perhaps we should have, but they do not want to cancel the games. What is that message? I do not think that there is a good way to do it.
2 people like this
@vanities (11395)
• Davao, Philippines
19 Jan 08
well your guess is good as mine..maybe it was declared early and when the weather clears out they decided to go on as scheduled on the game..about students who went out to see the game..maybe its the responsibility of respective parents to decide whether to go or not..
1 person likes this
@Adoniah (7513)
• United States
18 Jan 08
The first problem is with the weather forcasters which is what the schools have to go by. They are idiots. Down here in the south we have had kids going to school during hurricanes. Not so much anymore because so many of the schools are used as shelters, but it used to happen.
With all of their thechnology, you would think that they would get it right more often. The long time locals are the ones to listen too. Every year they predict how many hurricanes are going to hit us and how big they are going to be. I am certainly glad they keep getting that one wrong!!
Shalom~Adoniah
2 people like this
@keepermykitty (2573)
• Canada
18 Jan 08
I can understand why they worried about getting the kids there safley the roads were probably not salted enough , and then if its too cold then the salt would freeze also so that makes some sense , but still at seven to cancel is not fun what do the parents do that work , for babysitters at seven in the morning ...
Especially for those whos kids are normally in school ...
Wouldnt the school be in really big DOODOO if the team members were killed like the ones in NB thats so sad you would think that the school would have made a rule about games if the roads were so bad that school was cancelled ...
I just can`t believe that they let the game go on ...
ITS REDICULOUS ....
1 person likes this
@happythoughts (4109)
• United States
18 Jan 08
Around here they never cancel school even when I think they should. I guess we live in an area that gets a lot of snow ans some bad winters so we are all pretty used to driving in it, But there are times that the snow is deep and hard to get through but we still have school. Ive never actualy had a school take a snow day since I was in school or now that my kids are in school. I guess it is all up to who ever makes the decisions.
@teapotmommommerced (10359)
• United States
20 Jan 08
It really makes a person wonder if it is pure laziness on the head honchos part. Here we do not call off school for anything. We do not have snow so we do not have snow days. We do have delays because of fog but that is rare.
I think parents should go to the school board and complain.
@palonghorn (5479)
• United States
19 Jan 08
I would rather them cancel school and it not be needed, then to go ahead with school and then have to have a early dismiss because weather and road conditions were getting worse. I had that happen when my kids were in school, however, I was smart enough that I didn't take my kids to school that morning.
@jb_vete (323)
• Philippines
19 Jan 08
I'm don't exactly relate to that because we don't experience that same climate in our country, but with what you pointed out, i can see that the school's decision is really questionable. There has to be an explanation regarding the irregularity and that the school must make it clear and reasonable enough to make them decide like that.
@Creepout84 (38)
•
19 Jan 08
Well, I don't know exactly how things developed, but looks like there's something more important than teaching and learning in school, and this is not good. Education should always be a priority.
My experience of these days is that school is becoming less and less attractive: here in my small town the secondary school has been repeteadly flooded by students who - during the night - managed to enter the building and both opened taps and sprayed fire extinguishers...as a result,after the fourth episode of that kind, the school had to install several cameras and to adopt other measures in order to avoid further episodes...the morale is: who cares about teaching and learnings, nowadays?
