To add insult to injury, it was just noted yesterday that our state legislators are back at work..........Last year, I wrote about how our state government had decided that 5 snow days were too many for a state with lake effect snow and rural roads. Our kids can't afford to lose extra days of valuable learning time! So, they decided that we should only get 3 snow days per year; any overage to be made up in the summer.
Lo and behold, it's been an awfully snowy winter thus far, with 2 days used up in early December. Last Wednesday, during a 12 hour snowfall of nearly 24 inches of snow, not one public school closed in our county. And thanks to multiple school levy failures leading to no busing, I had to drive my kids to school in deplorable conditions. I was petrified on my way home and was already fretting at 7 a.m. how I would ever make it back to pick them up. During the day, I received 2 automated calls from the superintendent, in effect, apologizing for school being held that day, and saying that anyone who didn't show up would receive an excused absence that day (a very helpful announcement at 9:45 a.m.).
Now, the joke is on us.......... state legislators have announced that next year, there will once again be 5 snow days, with the option of 2 additional snow days per superintendent discretion. Huh? I guess our kids don't need that extra learning after all.
Honestly. Maybe our elected officials could do something productive like work on school funding, which in its current state, has been deemed 'unconstitutional' by the courts.
Morons. . .
ReplyDeleteUp North, where I grew up, four or five snow days was not unusual. One year, we had 10. Which, combined with a teachers' strike we had that fall, meant we were in school almost 'til July. . .
Growing up in NJ, we had no fewer than five snow days built in to the calendar. It might have been as many as 10 day. It's been too long, and I don't remember.
ReplyDeleteThe best thing the government can do, pick your level of government, it to take a vacation. Unpaid, of course.
Amazing.
ReplyDeleteOr, really, it's not amazing at all, it's exactly what I expect from any governing body.
Craig - As much as I don't like the idea of school in mid to late June, it's good to be safe and make it to June.
ReplyDeleteRuss - Yes, I suppose a govt on vacation is our best form of rule sometimes.
Sailor - I sometimes wonder if they do stuff like this to avoid the bigger issues.
This is a little confusing to me. Here snow days are banked by adding them into the schedule in advance through a slightly extended school schedule.
ReplyDeleteAgent - Our original state law was that you have to be in school 180 days. The schools schedule 185 days on the calendar and so you have 5 snow days built in. If you go past the 5, you have to make it up. If you go under, the kids are just in school extra, unnecessary days. They then decided 180 days wasn't enough schooling, so they took away 2 snow days and said you had to hold school 183 days. Now they are changing their minds.
ReplyDeleteIt's confusing because it makes no sense! Don't tie in the number of school days with snow days. If they wanted the kids to be in school 183 days, tack on 5 snow days. The problem probably relates to it cutting into summer school schedules, band camp and the like. We are probably heading to year round school, which I'm glad my kids will have graduated by that time.
ReplyDeleteI remember the juggling of the numbers with the school days, our kids actually went to school Monday through Thursday, only had to attend a couple of Fridays a year, they went in a bit earlier and stayed a bit longer each day adding about an hour to their school day and the numbers worked out just fine.
ReplyDeleteSo, you decided to change your look, eh?
ReplyDeleteGot tired of the French Maid, or what?
;)
I like the new look, Cocotte!
ReplyDeleteAround here, the schools NEVER close. We just don't bother to send our kids if the weather is super crappy or dangerous. If a parent phones in and notifies the school of an absence, it's excused. (whether due to illness, travel, weather or whatever).
Maybe my standards for school attendance are lax, but it would not matter one iota to me whether the school would excuse an absence or not. I would not be driving through dangerous conditions to take my kids to school. But then, I was never a child with one of those "Perfect Attendance" awards, either...
Flutter - I really don't care if they have an unexcused absence, but it's a nuisance for them to miss any school due to all the makeup work and trying to secure notes, etc. in high school.
ReplyDeleteALL - I'm working on revamping my blog. Stay tuned.
My kids haven't had a snow day yet, which is a change from years past. They probably would have on January 17th, because the weather here was so treacherous, but it was a scheduled in-service day (which, please, I'm not even going to start on that because good lord, our district can do some in-service and early out days around here). Anyway, long story short, despite not having any snow days yet, and, knock on wood, none on the horizon, the district this year built in a snow day, so the kids won't have school one day at the end of April. Again, good lord, just teach them for those 8 hours and let's move on, but no...
ReplyDeleteI'd hate to be in charge of calling snow days.
ReplyDeleteOne year we had a snowpocalypse warning and every one freaked out, everything was cancelled everywhere...we barely got a dusting. Everyone made fun of the poor bastard in charge :(
Now look at your county. Poor people! The pressure! ;)
Here in new YUCK state we have circus clowns in charge of some scam called the Regents Board who all of the policies trickle down from, including all of the off-day rules. They are all true academicians, that is to say not one of 'em has a lick of intelligence. Snow are the least of the worries when it comes to education here but thankfully our daughters are out of that system.
ReplyDelete