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snow days- problems
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<blockquote data-quote="Marguerite" data-source="post: 125525" data-attributes="member: 1991"><p>I didn't realise you had to 'make up' snow days. That seems too silly for words!</p><p></p><p>We obviously don't have snow days, except maybe for schools in the snow fields area. But there can be many other reasons for schools to be closed, although it's very rare that they do close even when I feel they should. Searing temperatures - most of our schools are not air-conditioned and yet I've never known a school to close because of the heat. We all grew up with the belief that if the temperature rose above a certain point (we used to believe it was 100F) then school would close, but it never did. I endured a lot of 100F+ days with no hint of closure. I mean, nobody was getting anything productive done, we were all lying around feeling limp. Water fights in the corridors, sort of thing. You know it's hot when the teachers don't stop you throwing water on everyone. Including the teachers.</p><p></p><p>Fire days - I've seen a few of those. I remember when easy child & difficult child 1 were at the local school and a fire was getting a bit too close, they closed the school and walked a lot of them home. A group of about twenty students ended up watching the fire, which by that time was over the road from our house. It was a worthwhile lesson, watching the fire brigade at work backburning. </p><p>The last fire I remember lots of kids watching - we were fortunate enough to have the supertankers in operation. difficult child 3 was up on the first floor of a house closest to the fire, he was on the balcony taking photos when the tanker dropped a load of foam onto the house.</p><p></p><p>With a fire closure, the danger passes fairly quickly. The kids were back in school the next day, even though the fire had us cut off entirely for the next week. All roads out of the village were closed. Commuters had to catch the boat.</p><p></p><p>Other reasons for closure - floods. I remember a bad flood a week before easy child 2/difficult child 2 was born. The older two were in long day care and the floods were so bad the traffic was gridlocked around Sydney, from the city centre right out to the furthest outskirts. Kids and staff were stranded in the child care centre. I left work early to collect the kids and a drive which should have taken me five minutes, took a couple of hours.</p><p>My sister was stranded at work, because floods had totally blocked the driveway and the street. I gather it was an all-night party.</p><p></p><p>difficult child 3 had a school test late last year, it was a state-wide test to be done by all kids in his grade, throughout the state. But although 9 were schedule to arrive for the test, only three made it. We were first, another boy arrived half an hour late so they started the test. The third boy arrived two hours later.</p><p></p><p>But these circumstances are fairly exceptional.</p><p></p><p>In general, on such bad weather days attendance-based incentives lapse. There was no criticism of those who failed to attend for the test, only sympathy for those who had struggled with the travel problems.</p><p></p><p>I do agree there should be "safety days" rather than snow days, to take into account all the other natural disasters that can affect safety in trying to get to and from school. And surely the state can be a bit lenient over mandatory attendance on those days? I mean, if you live in a state which gets a lot of snow, surely some prior understanding can be reached where students have work at home to do, when a snow day is called? Some project maybe, or a report on snow? Anything, but to penalise everyone by changing timetables just because the weather has been bad - it seems a bit odd, to me.</p><p></p><p>Our education system does have mandatory attendance, but it is still curriculum outcome-based. If at the end of the school year, enough outcomes have been satisfactorily met, the curriculum is deemed to have been successfully taught. If the end of the school year is approaching and the curriculum is still lagging behind, the teacher simply speeds up delivery, helping the students along. It's just a matter of making some adjustments.</p><p></p><p>We had to do this in 2000, when during the Olympics in Sydney, schools in our state were on holiday (for a lot longer) and employers were encouraged to ease back where possible and let staff take annual leave, to ease transport congestion. Curriculum had to be sped up a bit with some subjects, but it was all planned.</p><p></p><p>It can be done.</p><p></p><p>Marg</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Marguerite, post: 125525, member: 1991"] I didn't realise you had to 'make up' snow days. That seems too silly for words! We obviously don't have snow days, except maybe for schools in the snow fields area. But there can be many other reasons for schools to be closed, although it's very rare that they do close even when I feel they should. Searing temperatures - most of our schools are not air-conditioned and yet I've never known a school to close because of the heat. We all grew up with the belief that if the temperature rose above a certain point (we used to believe it was 100F) then school would close, but it never did. I endured a lot of 100F+ days with no hint of closure. I mean, nobody was getting anything productive done, we were all lying around feeling limp. Water fights in the corridors, sort of thing. You know it's hot when the teachers don't stop you throwing water on everyone. Including the teachers. Fire days - I've seen a few of those. I remember when easy child & difficult child 1 were at the local school and a fire was getting a bit too close, they closed the school and walked a lot of them home. A group of about twenty students ended up watching the fire, which by that time was over the road from our house. It was a worthwhile lesson, watching the fire brigade at work backburning. The last fire I remember lots of kids watching - we were fortunate enough to have the supertankers in operation. difficult child 3 was up on the first floor of a house closest to the fire, he was on the balcony taking photos when the tanker dropped a load of foam onto the house. With a fire closure, the danger passes fairly quickly. The kids were back in school the next day, even though the fire had us cut off entirely for the next week. All roads out of the village were closed. Commuters had to catch the boat. Other reasons for closure - floods. I remember a bad flood a week before easy child 2/difficult child 2 was born. The older two were in long day care and the floods were so bad the traffic was gridlocked around Sydney, from the city centre right out to the furthest outskirts. Kids and staff were stranded in the child care centre. I left work early to collect the kids and a drive which should have taken me five minutes, took a couple of hours. My sister was stranded at work, because floods had totally blocked the driveway and the street. I gather it was an all-night party. difficult child 3 had a school test late last year, it was a state-wide test to be done by all kids in his grade, throughout the state. But although 9 were schedule to arrive for the test, only three made it. We were first, another boy arrived half an hour late so they started the test. The third boy arrived two hours later. But these circumstances are fairly exceptional. In general, on such bad weather days attendance-based incentives lapse. There was no criticism of those who failed to attend for the test, only sympathy for those who had struggled with the travel problems. I do agree there should be "safety days" rather than snow days, to take into account all the other natural disasters that can affect safety in trying to get to and from school. And surely the state can be a bit lenient over mandatory attendance on those days? I mean, if you live in a state which gets a lot of snow, surely some prior understanding can be reached where students have work at home to do, when a snow day is called? Some project maybe, or a report on snow? Anything, but to penalise everyone by changing timetables just because the weather has been bad - it seems a bit odd, to me. Our education system does have mandatory attendance, but it is still curriculum outcome-based. If at the end of the school year, enough outcomes have been satisfactorily met, the curriculum is deemed to have been successfully taught. If the end of the school year is approaching and the curriculum is still lagging behind, the teacher simply speeds up delivery, helping the students along. It's just a matter of making some adjustments. We had to do this in 2000, when during the Olympics in Sydney, schools in our state were on holiday (for a lot longer) and employers were encouraged to ease back where possible and let staff take annual leave, to ease transport congestion. Curriculum had to be sped up a bit with some subjects, but it was all planned. It can be done. Marg [/QUOTE]
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