school closings?

[venture]

Okay people need to chill out. From someone who ACTUALLY did got to school up north where it gets colder than this...this is pretty much how it worked.

Well for one, we went to school for 183 days a year with 5 calamity days. The policy for the major urban district was different from those that served to the burbs/rural areas.

More than 5 inches of snow on streets - both urban & rural closed.
Wind Chill below -15 expected consistently - both closed.
Temp below 5 above for the high - both closed.
Freezing Rain - roads had to be ice covered by normally handled well, rural only normally.
Fog visibility under 1/8th of a mile - rural only delayed 2-3 hours or closed if it doesn't lift by mid morning.

That last point is something I've noticed they don't do here. There aren't any "delays" to the start of school. Back north they use this a lot so they don't have to utilize a full calamity day for closing school. They can do 2 hour start delays for 3 days before they use one up.

Either way, its about child safety and funding. If you guys want to shell out more in property taxes to have 100% bus coverage for all kids...by all means. Unfortunately most voters would strike down any levy that tried to come about to cover it.

[fuzzytoad]

Okay people need to chill out.

hehe

[bluedogok]

I'm sure part of it is OKCPS thinking about possible lawsuits if someone's child suffers from the cold, i.e. hypothermia or whatnot.

Exactly, or if they get injured walking to school. Whether a lawsuit is valid or not is immaterial, it still costs the district money in defending itself.

Part of the problem is that many kids don't have the right type of clothing for temps this cold, since they are rare. Also, another teacher told me that diesel fuel (school buses) can have problems starting in extremely cold temperatures. I googled this and it seems to be true. Anyhow, I'm not going to complain about getting to sleep in today.

Diesel congeals as it gets colder unless it has additives in it to prevent that from happening, typically areas this far south do not have that additive because the extreme cold is rare. Down here people think it's freezing if it below 60, they have had their parkas and fur lined hats with ear flaps down all week, it was still in the 50's last night. I think our temps are supposed to be low 30's/low 20's and everyone is acting like a new ice age is coming.

[Architect2010]

In case some of you don't know. Oklahoma City Public Schools enrolls 42,750 kids. A large number of those are bus riders or walkers. It isn't a handful. It's over 10 thousand children. It's especially hazardous to those kids when a large number of OKCPS's students are below poverty level so you know they aren't going to best dressed for something that is a rare occurrence here. It doesn't matter anyways though. We'll be making these days up at the end of the year.

Someone else also mentioned heating in the schools. Believe it or not, my school, Southeast High will go without heating for days because they just stop working. It happened again last week and let me tell you, it is not fun trying to concentrate and work when your hands are frozen stiff. Same goes for the Air Conditioning in the summer.

[PennyQuilts]

If it is so cold outside that it is dangerous to go to school, I have to worry about the state of their home and their parent's ability to dress them properly.

I suspect the problem is that some parents either because they work or because they are still in bed, aren't there to supervise getting the kids off to school. The little kids are likely to not dress themselves, properly for the cold. Of course it is ridiculous to not properly supervise your kids and just isn't right. But it happens on a regular basis. On a regular day, the odds are that the child will be fine. On a day like today or tomorrow, the irresponsible parents wreck havoc on the rest of the world that is jumping through hoops to make sure they take up the slack.

[kmf563]

How many of those 42000 kids get free lunches? Because I bet more kids are home starving than would have frozen to death or sued this morning.

Here is another topic of discussion I learned from this that p's me off. I didnt know that our wonderful saving lottery money replaces the funding instead of adding to! No wonder they are getting all of this additional money and there are still schools without heat!

[MadMonk]

How many of you claiming how wussy kids are nowadays are posting that from a warm home or building? If you are so tough, park you car a mile or 2 from your job and walk in tommorow morning.

And spare me the "back in my day" bs. I was talking to relatives last night and the last time it was this cold (early 1980's) most schools were closed. Also, Oklahoma schools are now required to attend schools at least 170 days or an hour equivalent, so its much easier to make up days now versus in the past.

I'm here in my nice warm office that I had to walk four blocks in the cold and wind to reach. I was cold, but so what?? Closing schools today simply because it was cold is completely ridiculous. What's next, it's too hot? Too wet? Whaaa! Bunch of whiners.

[bandnerd]

Okay people need to chill out. From someone who ACTUALLY did got to school up north where it gets colder than this...this is pretty much how it worked.

Well for one, we went to school for 183 days a year with 5 calamity days. The policy for the major urban district was different from those that served to the burbs/rural areas.

More than 5 inches of snow on streets - both urban & rural closed.
Wind Chill below -15 expected consistently - both closed.
Temp below 5 above for the high - both closed.
Freezing Rain - roads had to be ice covered by normally handled well, rural only normally.
Fog visibility under 1/8th of a mile - rural only delayed 2-3 hours or closed if it doesn't lift by mid morning.

That last point is something I've noticed they don't do here. There aren't any "delays" to the start of school. Back north they use this a lot so they don't have to utilize a full calamity day for closing school. They can do 2 hour start delays for 3 days before they use one up.

Either way, its about child safety and funding. If you guys want to shell out more in property taxes to have 100% bus coverage for all kids...by all means. Unfortunately most voters would strike down any levy that tried to come about to cover it.

I think this is all very valuable information. I had wondered what they do up north. We just aren't used to really cold temps here...15 to us might as well be 0.

[nik4411]

i was out sitting in (literally) lake thunderbird at 6:45 waiting for sunrise and for flocks of ducks to come swooping in to their deaths. it wasn't THAT cold.

i agree with what some people said here about america becoming sissified. it is getting bad folks.

[flippity]

I'm here in my nice warm office that I had to walk four blocks in the cold and wind to reach. I was cold, but so what?? Closing schools today simply because it was cold is completely ridiculous. What's next, it's too hot? Too wet? Whaaa! Bunch of whiners.

did you have a coat? a hat? gloves? scarf?

just wondering.

[fuzzytoad]

did you have a coat? a hat? gloves? scarf?

just wondering.

he was probably wearing a coat and scarf that he stoie from a poor, helpless schoolchild who was cowering under a car after a clap of thunder frightened him.

[bandnerd]

Okay, so one of our teachers compiled this information. Here is the email he just sent to us.

So I’m kind of sending this information out as a joke, but once I started researching this I found it interesting. So if you have any students or parents complaining about being in school then here is some information to back up why we should be in school today. All of the following cities listed have plenty of children who would have to walk to school or wait for busses. Also, they would also have plenty of poor people who might not have proper clothing and jackets either. Here is the info:



City Avg. Jan Temp Thursday High Temp School



1. OKC 35 18 No


2. Wichita 30 17 Yes


3. Kansas City 26 10 Yes


4. Topeka 27 5 Yes


5. Omaha 22 6 (plus snow) Yes


6. Denver 30 14 Yes


7. Chicago 21 20 (plus heavy snow) Yes

[fuzzytoad]

Okay, so one of our teachers compiled this information. Here is the email he just sent to us.

So I’m kind of sending this information out as a joke, but once I started researching this I found it interesting. So if you have any students or parents complaining about being in school then here is some information to back up why we should be in school today. All of the following cities listed have plenty of children who would have to walk to school or wait for busses. Also, they would also have plenty of poor people who might not have proper clothing and jackets either. Here is the info:



City Avg. Jan Temp Thursday High Temp School



1. OKC 35 18 No


2. Wichita 30 17 Yes


3. Kansas City 26 10 Yes


4. Topeka 27 5 Yes


5. Omaha 22 6 (plus snow) Yes


6. Denver 30 14 Yes


7. Chicago 21 20 (plus heavy snow) Yes

Well, I guess this is one way to keep 20-35 year olds in OKC.. raise them to be too frightened to ever leave.

[bluedogok]

I can guarantee you there are adults as well as children (poor or wealthy) unprepared down here for anything below 40 degrees, just a fact of life.

I don't know why people are upset about kids being out of school, like someone else said, it isn't like the kids aren't going to make it up sometime later in the school year.

[rcjunkie]

My ex-wife is a teacher in Norman and my daughter is a teacher in Moore, both District's had school today, however, when they close due to weather, the biggest complaint they hear is from parents that have to either miss a day of work, or find last minute day care.

[PennyQuilts]

Well, I guess this is one way to keep 20-35 year olds in OKC.. raise them to be too frightened to ever leave.

That is funny!

[PennyQuilts]

We can talk about wussy kids until the cows come home but the fact is, they aren't the ones making the decision so we can't lay it on them. If the reason the schools are closed is because the kids aren't dressed properly, that is the parents' fault. No coat, scarf or gloves? Ridiculous. Go to goodwill or layer up. That is just an excuse. If you have a caring parent, even a poor one, they are going to make sure their tyke is covered up and layers probably work better than some coats, anyway.

I think the schools should have stayed open, personally. I think it is ridiculous. It think it is shame that we have to worry that a five year old is going to stumble out of her house, half dressed on her way to the bus stop.

I think we just aren't used to the cold and someone over reacted.

[sacolton]

Yeah, dress your kids like they are preparing for extended deep sea diving - like the little kid in "A Christmas Story" who couldn't put his arms down.

[PennyQuilts]

Yeah, dress your kids like they are preparing for extended deep sea diving - like the little kid in "A Christmas Story" who couldn't put his arms down.

That's what I'm talking about, baby!!

[bluedogok]

You mean like a tick about ready to pop?

[venture]

Just to make a side observation. Wind Chills today haven't gone below -10 yet, so schools probably overreacted. Tomorrow would probably have been the day to pull the trigger to close.

[chrisok]

I'm working in Ohio this week. (About 1/2 way between Columbus and Pittsburgh)
I was surprised to see that many school districts in the Columbus area have been closed the better part of the week for cold. Other than today and Monday, there hasn't been any snow to speak of, and he snow we've gotten has been on the lighter side. The temps are cold but not much worse than back home (19-23 degrees for highs, but no wind).

I think the overreacting isn't just limited to us.

[adaniel]

Just to make a side observation. Wind Chills today haven't gone below -10 yet, so schools probably overreacted. Tomorrow would probably have been the day to pull the trigger to close.

I tend to agree. With the sun out it warmed the temp. to about 23 today, versus a predicted high of 18. I still stand by what I previously said, if the wind chill was that low than school closure needed to at least be considered.

As far as wussy kids of today are concerned, I'm sure everyone's parents said that of your generation, and the generation before that said it of your parents. So by the time I have kids (I'm in my early 20's) children will be coddled fatties playing xbox and staying home when the temperatures dips below 40

[kmf563]

Hey Edmond schools, if you are going to make a ridiculous decision, at least stand by it. I'm just sayin...

Really?

[MadMonk]

did you have a coat? a hat? gloves? scarf?

just wondering.

Yes, but if I didn't should my entire company shut down for the day? I also have shirts, pants and underwear. Are we to close a school system if some of the kids can't find decent clothes to wear? The point is that the schools closed for everyone. For an individual to not go to school because of a lack of weather-appropriate clothing is understandable, but to close an entire school system because SOME of their students aren't prepared for the weather is absurd.