Pre-emptive snow days? (Portland, Auburn: get credit, daycare, home)

[melinuxfool]

So I just got a call from my place of employment, a local school district. No school today, snow day. Yet I do not see one flake falling from the sky yet. Oh well, a day off is a day off, I suppose. But it seems silly to cancel school when there isn't any yet. Maybe send the kids home early when it gets there?

[Maine Writer]

It's not snowing here so our kids are in until at least 11 am. We love no school days but every day at home now is another day in school in June.

[7th generation]

Our schools are closed here.
WCSH6.com | Portland, ME | STORM CENTER Closings & Delays

After reading the list, it seems not many kids will be in school today.

[Acadianlion]

I have always felt that the schools closed very quickly during the winter. Just a hint of snow and they seemed to slam the doors shut. I grew up in a suburb of Boston and we used to beg and plead and pray for snow days and closures were a rare event.

My father was the superintendant of schools and had the responsibility of notifying the radio stations when the schools in his district were closed. I can remember him getting out of bed at four in the morning and calling wherever the forecasting initiated for eastern Massachusetts, and then making additional calls to principals and to the radio stations.

One day I asked him if he didn't think it odd that the schools closed so readily up here. He said that the decision to close schools was made depending not on whether or not it was snowing, but on what the driving conditions would be like when the school busses would run. If the kids were in school and it started to snow hard, by the time the busses could be redestributed to make their runs, the traveling could be extremely hazardous.

So also could the determining factor about closures be made by the amount of snow that had fallen, and whether there had been ample time to clear snow out around the school parking lots and emergency egress doors and walkways. So often schools will remain closed even though it would seem that there is no need for them to be closed.

[FNolan]

Well I don't know the age groups of the previous posters but back home in Central NY we went to school during whiteout conditions, sat around in our homeroom until 11ish and then were sent home because of weather conditions. The reason they did that was so the schools would still receive their state aid for the day.

[cebdark]

Originally Posted by Maine Writer

It's not snowing here so our kids are in until at least 11 am. We love no school days but every day at home now is another day in school in June.

Exactly - and don't think we won't hear about it come June.

It's been explained to me that our school doesn't usually cancel school for snow days in the middle of the day because many parents work, and the kids might be dropped off to an empty house. That, I don't quite get because most parents that I know who work have made other arrangements with their daycare providers for regular snow days.

As far as bussing, we've got a pretty fearless bus company operator, but she's also very familiar with the crowning (and crowded) roads here, so she usually uses her common sense to determine whether or not she feels the drivers can operate for road conditions. There's the liability factor to consider in those determinations.

Oh well, the kids are thrilled anyway - me, not so much lol.

[7th generation]

We wanted to go to school in the winter.
Every day canceled equated to another we'd have to attend in the spring.
"Heavy kids to the back of the bus and the able bodied, get ready to go out and push!" was our mantra!

[flycessna]

Living in Auburn I see the difference between an urban area and the smaller towns.. the small towns like gray cannot clear the roads quickly enough like Auburn can and therefore tend to have more snowdays...

I would rather see the kids get a snow day, and reduce the risk posed to the children and parents who all have to venture out when they otherwise might just stay in, and make a full day of school up later in the year rather than go for 3 hours and get credit but really not learn anything.. This is also why I think ONE spring vacation in april would be enough and do away with the february one..

[cebdark]

Originally Posted by flycessna

Living in Auburn I see the difference between an urban area and the smaller towns.. the small towns like gray cannot clear the roads quickly enough like Auburn can and therefore tend to have more snowdays...

I would rather see the kids get a snow day, and reduce the risk posed to the children and parents who all have to venture out when they otherwise might just stay in, and make a full day of school up later in the year rather than go for 3 hours and get credit but really not learn anything.. This is also why I think ONE spring vacation in april would be enough and do away with the february one..

I agree. Although it's hard to add extra days when the weather's great, I'd rather see useful days vs. putting the hours in.

[timnwin]

My kids will enjoy it then. They received a free day not long ago....storm was suppose to hit...but it missed us. The main thing we received was lots of wind. They were happy. Free Day!