I'm sure most of you have had enough of winter. I definitely have had it being a Buffalo, New Yorker. The news is saying that we'll be getting extreme temperatures in the negative numbers tomorrow. The superintendent stated today that there will be school as long as the temperature doesn't go below -20 (yes, minus 20 degrees). I guess that's the general rule around here. That's insane! Here's the worst part: if there is no school for students, teachers are still required to come for a superintendents day! This is when I &@×÷% lost it ! Seriously? Does your school have similar practices?
We don't have snow days. If the roads are bad, the buses are cancelled, but schools are open. If teachers are not able to make it safely to their own school, they are asked to report to the school closest to them. We'll be dealing with the same bitter temps over the next while (the forecast for tomorrow has windchills in the -35C range). The kids will be allowed into the building as soon as they arrive and all recesses will be indoors.
Same here. I honestly get really aggravated (at the schools, not the teachers, obviously) when I read some of you say that you are still required to report when school is closed for weather issues. I don't understand how it can be unsafe for students but safe enough for staff. Is your safety that much less important?
We don't really have snow days (it's been 60-70 here, don't hate me) but we had 2 ice days last year and now the rule is that teachers have to call in sick or show up at work if that ever happens again. Last year we made up student days on inservice days and then had to make up 2 inservice days or use sick days.
Well in a situation like cold weather... teachers don't have to worry about standing outside waiting for buses.
Some - albeit a few - do. Many of our Aides and Subs take the MTA to work which is what most of our kids also take - not the yellow buses. Two of our teachers also take the MTA everyday to work.
How does that even make sense to do? Do students even show up if that happens? Here if students are out, teachers are out as far as I know (I'm a sub, so if students are out I'm definitely out! haha).
When I taught in NYC, we had off for snow days but just made them up at the end. A good system is to schedule an additional week of school that you only have if there are snow days. Give yourself some flexibility! Now I live in CA. We had a random day off this year due to rain. We got the day off for free and didn't have to make it up! Admins were asked to work from home.
The majority of our students do show up at most of the schools in my district. Most of our kids walk to school (or their parents drive them), so not being able to get on the bus doesn't impact most of them. There are those who will stay home, but we carry on with whoever is there. This morning, it "feels like" -25.4F out there. Brrr!
No schools in our area ever close for cold temperatures. Some will have a delayed opening if a majority of the students walk.
No snow days for the virtual schools. I'm glad for that because then I can quietly check on my impoverished students to make sure they have heat or know where to go if they don't.
I say that all the time! BTW, the answer is Southern California. Now if only I could pick up my family, friends, job, and life and move there.
We get an average of 200" of snow each winter. We build 6 snow days into our school schedule. We can get a ton of snow and still be in school. This year we've had four days off, three were due to wind chills of -30. Last year we ended up having 10 snow days and had to make up two. A few were exempt because they happened in April!
If it is a cancellation due to cold weather it is because students either walk or must wait for the bus. The district assumes that the staff has readily available transportation. Also, a large body can handle the cold for longer than a small body. You know enough to keep your gloves on, kids not so much, teens who knows what they would do! LOL The district trusts that in certain conditions the adults will make wise judgments.
Well, I was referring more to closures due to snow and ice. I can't really ever remember school being closed due to cold temps in my time in either NYC or NJ. Still, even if freezing temps were the reason and teachers could easily handle it...Students have a mandated set number of days and teachers have a contracted number of days - at least for my area. If school was closed due to weather, that school day would have to be made up which would mean an extra school day for the teachers if they already had come in on the school closed day. It doesn't seem fair or necessary.
Hey, as long as my husband and dog come with me i'll be fine. I can just skype with my relatives and friends lol I'm sure it would be worth it!
We don't have snow days. Ever. It's the Yukon, if we cancelled school for bad weather we'd never go! Some days, like last week when the wind chills were at -47 C (-52 F) we have a few less students, but generally they show up.
We don't cancel for cold weather. Parents are given the option to keep students home if they feel it is too cold, and it won't be held against them. We've had an unholy amount of snow this year. We had nearly 3 feet of the stuff in a week and are planning to get another whopper of a storm tomorrow. We ran out of places to put it in the city, and about 10 000 truckfulls had to be tasked out of the city. We had snow days then, but most of the snow days we've had, the whole city pretty much shut down. I've seen worse storms, but never one right after another like this...
If the students have a snow/ice day, then we have a snow/ice day. I can't imagine making staff come in if you've deemed it unsafe for students.
At my school I have to teach online on snow days. The kids have to log on and we have a 'virtual day'. I take attendance like I would on a regular day. Students at my school all have their own laptop so this usually works well. We use adobe connect (kind of like Skype), the kids can see and hear me, I can share documents/powerpoints etc. I always make sure that I embed things that show me if they are really paying attention, such as polls, online assignments, student response stuff.
