Monday, February 13, 2006
Snowday II: Electric Boogaloo
The critics agree. For the most part, this winter has been decidedly subpar. With temperatures that seemed to remain entrenched above 50 degrees through the month of January, the possibility of a weather related school cancellation seemed well nigh impossible. But then February rolled around and in an act of sheer meteorlogical bravado decided to turn on the cold once again. And so temperatures plunged, wind chills rose, and the humidity...fluctuated.
Until this past weekend, when the stars finally came into alignment and the majority of this part of the country got hit by a rather serious snow storm. It had all the classic symptoms. Poor visibility. High winds. And snow. More than we had seen here all winter, and it really could not have come at a worse time for the city's teachers. Because honestly, the snow started on Saturday and ended on Sunday morning. There would be plenty of time for road crews to hit the roads and as I told my students, there would be school on Monday.
The school district had given us our one required snow day for the year. There would be plenty of time to clear the roads. I was positive there would be school on Monday!
And then last night around 10:00, a friend informed me that the parochial schools had announced they were closed for Monday. Now this was interesting. If the parochial schools had announced a closure that raised the possibility, faint as I thought it might be, that the public schools would follow suit. This was the proverbial glimmer of hope that I try so hard to avoid on Sunday nights, because there is nothing worse than building up your expectations that you might have a day off only to wake up to the 6:00 news announcer confirming that yes, there is a mess on the roads and buses are delayed, but you and your students do have to go to school today.
I tried to remain impassive. I really did. Probability seemed to be against the snow day...but it's hard to read the mind of a district superintendent. How would he respond to the parochial school's announcement? And when would he deign to let the rest of us know what he decided? Would it be a preemptive strike or a last minute desperation maneuver? And how would we learn the truth?
All these thoughts and more raced through my brain...for approximately 15 minutes. Because then the same website that had reported the parochial closing updated and now the bright red letters had a new message. Public and parochial schools were closed.
CLOSED!
This was unprecedented. A second snowday during the course of a school year? What's next? Will the sky suddenly turn bright red and start raining passing standardized test answers so that my students might make the district's mandated testing goals?
Who knows? As far as I'm concerned this week is officially dead, what with the kids going off the bloody wall for Valentine's Day, the 3 hour late start for testing on Wednesday, the extended homeroom on Thursday for, you guessed it, more testing, and then a regular Friday. Not much in the way of real teaching seems likely to take place now. For now, I'm off to clean up and possibly revel in the frozen goodness that is a snow day!
The critics agree. For the most part, this winter has been decidedly subpar. With temperatures that seemed to remain entrenched above 50 degrees through the month of January, the possibility of a weather related school cancellation seemed well nigh impossible. But then February rolled around and in an act of sheer meteorlogical bravado decided to turn on the cold once again. And so temperatures plunged, wind chills rose, and the humidity...fluctuated.
Until this past weekend, when the stars finally came into alignment and the majority of this part of the country got hit by a rather serious snow storm. It had all the classic symptoms. Poor visibility. High winds. And snow. More than we had seen here all winter, and it really could not have come at a worse time for the city's teachers. Because honestly, the snow started on Saturday and ended on Sunday morning. There would be plenty of time for road crews to hit the roads and as I told my students, there would be school on Monday.
The school district had given us our one required snow day for the year. There would be plenty of time to clear the roads. I was positive there would be school on Monday!
And then last night around 10:00, a friend informed me that the parochial schools had announced they were closed for Monday. Now this was interesting. If the parochial schools had announced a closure that raised the possibility, faint as I thought it might be, that the public schools would follow suit. This was the proverbial glimmer of hope that I try so hard to avoid on Sunday nights, because there is nothing worse than building up your expectations that you might have a day off only to wake up to the 6:00 news announcer confirming that yes, there is a mess on the roads and buses are delayed, but you and your students do have to go to school today.
I tried to remain impassive. I really did. Probability seemed to be against the snow day...but it's hard to read the mind of a district superintendent. How would he respond to the parochial school's announcement? And when would he deign to let the rest of us know what he decided? Would it be a preemptive strike or a last minute desperation maneuver? And how would we learn the truth?
All these thoughts and more raced through my brain...for approximately 15 minutes. Because then the same website that had reported the parochial closing updated and now the bright red letters had a new message. Public and parochial schools were closed.
CLOSED!
This was unprecedented. A second snowday during the course of a school year? What's next? Will the sky suddenly turn bright red and start raining passing standardized test answers so that my students might make the district's mandated testing goals?
Who knows? As far as I'm concerned this week is officially dead, what with the kids going off the bloody wall for Valentine's Day, the 3 hour late start for testing on Wednesday, the extended homeroom on Thursday for, you guessed it, more testing, and then a regular Friday. Not much in the way of real teaching seems likely to take place now. For now, I'm off to clean up and possibly revel in the frozen goodness that is a snow day!
