Why are the School officials in my town so STUPID!!!????

[RUDUing2]

It has been raining for the better part of 3 days..all the low water areas on roads are flooded..right now the temp is 34..around noon it is supposed to drop below freezing..and the rain will change over to freezing rain and sleet..(not a maybe..it IS going to happen..KC, etc already are there)..

So do they cancel school this morning? NOOOOOO..they issue an early release day notice..

Our schools have staggered start times so that not as many buses are necessary..

The High Schools and Jr Highs and Middle Schools will be released at 12:15..just as the ice is starting (think about that...all the new drivers w/crappy cars leaving the HS's as ice is starting to form..before road crews can do anything to improve the roads) and the Elem. Schools will be released at 1:15..meaning they will be on buses in the worst part of the freezing rain and sleet (and being Mid Missouri there are some hairy scarey roads that the buses go on)...

I am leaving at 11:30 and picking up my kids and heading home..

Snow I can handle driving on..but ice..forget it..and we are now talking up to a 1/4 inch of ice w/snow going on top over night...

[TN al]

1. By having a partial day...

... the district can count it as a full day instead of a missed day. That way they can save a snow day, assuming that they even bothered to schedule any snow days, and they don't have to tack a day back on at the end of the school year. Sometimes administrators weigh which option will generate the fewest complaints. Today they felt that early dismissal, and showing their compassion, trumps being evil and adding an extra day in the summer.

[RUDUing2]

2. nope..we have 4 days built into the calendar...if they are used we

get out at the normal date..if they are not used we get out 4 days early..no days have been used to this point..last two years we got out 2 days early...

[MissMillie]

3. Yes, but it's still early in the winter season

Most kids ride the bus. By waiting until mid-day, they give the road crews a chance to stay ahead of the situation.

[RUDUing2]

5. no the situation isn't starting until noon..they will be releasing at the

time when the roads will be the worst and when the road crews haven't had time to do anything..plus if you have ever been in Mid Mo..we are talking narrow curvy hilly roads..w/no pull off spots...and those roads normally are not got to until after I-70 and Hwy 63 are taken care of...the kids are going to be on the buses in the middle of the worst of the freezing rain and sleet coming down..not after it has already fallen...

[TN al]

6. Perhaps you have a new superintendant...

...When my district, where it is unusual for snow, hired a new superintendant he came from an area where snow was more common. Snow didn't faze him but he didn't realize that snow usually came only after rain here which left a sheet of ice under the snow. 2 years ago we had seven inches, over ice of course, and he called school only after he could call it a partial day. The local paper ran quotes from local superintendants that day, in anticipation of the forecasted snow, and he came off sounding like NOTHING was more important than having a students butt in the seat. A couple of students in the district spent the nights at their principal's house because the storm was severe enough that their parents couldn't get them.

[RUDUing2]

7. the superintendant is new..but comes from an area w/even worse

roads and more ice storms..she is the former Superintendant of the Springfield Mo school district..

[jarab]

4. Doesn't sound smart, does it?

My rural school administration makes similarly stupid decisions. But I've come to expect no more from them. The politics and nepotism is so rampant that to battle them has become somewhat fruitless. Many of them come from the same gene pool ... and it's therefore a big clan to take on.
And, what really gets me - since we're talking weather - is that the kids will stay in school a little too long due to inclement weather on Tuesday thru Thursday, but ... a simple negative weather "report" will have them preemptively cancelling a Monday or Friday session. A three-day weekend, ya' know! The bennies of the grown-ups come before those of the kids.
...O..