Well, I got the call at 5:30 am this morning from our principal telling me (PTO Prez) that school has indeed been cancelled. I politely reminded him that we aren't calling the parents about snow days this year, but he said he just thought he should call me nonetheless.
We got another 3" of heavy snow on top of yesterday's 4", but honestly the roads are passable, even if they aren't plowed yet. For Michigan, this just isn't that unusual. It must have looked worse at 5:30 am. Now it's just peaceful, quiet, and cool - and the kids are bundled up sledding at a friends. The youthful joy of "snow days" - you tropic-dwellers are missing out! [img]smile.gif[/img]
Yesterday it was 60 here and I could have sworn I heard on t.v. "Snow across California." Boy that is screwed up. Today it is not so warm but nothing like normal. It is STILL raining.
We used to be alloted about 5 snow days. They don't do that anymore but if we miss a bunch of days they will take that into consideration. They usually won't knock more than three off as best I remember.
Used to they would hold us as long as they could. They really wanted to get that lunch served. So on day I was in Kindergarten (24 years ago, yikes!) and we watched it pile up as we ate. My bus driver heard there was a bus stuck at the bottom of the hill more than half way home so he decides to see if he could help by going down there too! As a 5 year-old even I knew this was a stupid idea. So another bus had to be sent to get us. Most of the parents had found out and came and got their kids but my parents worked at a factory in a different county. My parents were not happy. We weren't stuck very long it was the thought of it. Our bus garage supervisor is very good at making the calls now days. I don't mind a few false alarms. Better to be on the safe side, this is one Mama who can't drive in the snow. Northerners make fun of me all the time.
We don't get lucky enough in our distict to have snow days very often. We don't have bussing, so the super rarely calls for a snow day. Even today, with the ice left over from the thaw we had last week, now being covered with 4-6" and no end in sight.
My son is autistic and very used to his routines so I learned after the first one last year to warn him every night that there might not be school in the morning. Now when he wakes up, the very first thing he says is "Momma, do we have school today?" Not even good morning, just wants to make sure he gets to go to school!
Our district has 2 or 3 weather days on the calendar. It's pretty rare to use one, but once in awhile there's an "ice storm".
Those of you in areas accustomed to ice and snow would probably laugh your heads off at what minimal amount of ice will cause our schools/business to shut down.
But, since it's so unusual here, people don't know how to drive on it, nor do we have lots of equipment to clear the roads. (They do spread sand with some trucks on major highways.) So those things increase the risks of being out.
We just watch tv and they run notices continually for closings. This part of the state, our tv stations broadcast for 1/3-1/2 the state so there are a lot of closings. Our district rarely closes because they can say the public buses are running so they should too. Generally the main and school streets are cleared because we are the capital city, but for those of us that don't live on main streets, it takes forever trying to get to one. But when the city and state offices are closed, like today, I don't leave my house unless it's an emergency. No matter how much I hate snow days, I would rather stay trapped in my house then spend 20 minutes cleaning off my car and another 10 to drive less than a mile.
The irony of commitment is that it’s deeply liberating-in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life. --Anne Morris
How's this one: Today here in Northern NJ, the weather was supposed to get slippery with ice and snow forecast for tonight. So today as soon as the rain turned to sleet for about 10 minutes BAM!!! Early closings for the high schools and all the other schools........it turned back to rain and then stopped before the kids would have been out of school on a normal day!!! :eek: I think the media has everyone running scared. There are so many "Storm watch" reports... they have every reporter out on every major road way doing these stupid reports! Nothing happened! The kids are sent home early, which is really difficult on working parents. I think they have to get a grip around these parts with the panic they send people in all over a little bit of "possible snow". I remember years ago, they didn't jump that quickly to close school early!
All in all, they closed schools around here and even the rain stopped. ( The weather channels were right when they said TONIGHT was when we could expect it. Guess no one was listening)
