Do two years make a tradition? For the second year in a row, our school has been closed for cold during the first week following winter break. In a school, few things cause as much strong feelings as emergency closings.
When I was in high school, the principal said that he’d only close school if, when he looked from his second-floor office out the window, he could not see the flagpole. We rarely had a snow day. After all, this is Chicago, and winter isn’t a stranger here. The one time I can remember school closing, I had already struggled to arrive and then had to find a way home in a raging snow storm.
On Tuesday, my seniors were almost giddy with anticipation that we might get a belated addition to winter break. They wanted to speculate about what it would take to close school, and how long school might be closed. The formula used to be that we needed at least a foot of snow to fall in the middle of the night to close school. The key was getting buses to the students. If we couldn’t get the buses out of the garage or the drivers to the buses, then school would be canceled.
We have released school early in anticipation of a storm. This has always concerned me. As bad weather is developing, instead of keeping our students inside where it is safe, we send them out into the storm! I fully recognize that many staff members have a long commute and we must let them get home. Yet, there too, the logic seems problematic. Which is better: stuck in a warm and safe school or spending hours sliding and colliding on the streets and highways?
However, cold is now as likely as snow to close school. Concern for students at bus stops, walking, or merely going outdoors is the rationale for our two recent closures. What percentage of our students takes the buses? The line of parents dropping off and picking up students is always fantastically long. What happens in Minnesota or Canada? Do they close just for cold? Now that we have closed for wind chills that are around -20°, does that mean that any time the temperature dips that low, we automatically close? Is it going to be very cold tomorrow…
My wife and I work at our school, so we stay home with our children. It must be very challenging when the kids are home and their parents still have to go to work. While we were home, we did some work. My son received emails from several of his teachers, and I emailed my students with an updated schedule, too.
The truth is we did not spend the whole day doing homework. I got caught up on grading which is a rare occurrence. I planned lessons and worked on a variety of school projects. I also did other tasks – and wrote a blog post. From the work that my students turned in the last two days, I don’t think many of them spent much time on English class.
When school starts tomorrow, I have no doubt there will be teachers wringing hands and gnashing teeth about lost teaching time, upcoming final exams, and the difficulties of making up all that “material”. Yet, in a few weeks, it will be forgotten. Life will go on.
No one was outside making snowmen during these two days, but we enjoyed the extended indoor break. Closing school to ensure that our students and staff are safe is reasonable. So let’s make it a tradition: from now on, two weather closings the week after winter break should be the rule! If nothing else, it makes the transition back to school just a little easier.
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