OPINION: Should school have been canceled?
On Tuesday, January 16, temperatures dropped to 0 degrees, with an advisory for wind chills of -20 degrees. Many students on Monday night were all watching and hoping for school to be called off, but were disappointed and annoyed when woken up the next morning, still having to go.
The dangers of wind chills include frostbite to exposed skin in 30 minutes, which would pose a danger to students who ride the bus and need to be at their bus stop early, or those who walk to school.
Juniors and seniors who drive have to get up extra early to make sure their cars will start and warm them up before they leave, also having to worry about any possible ice on the roads, and the worst: the walk from the parking lot into school.
Other schools around Pattonville were canceled, including Ritenour and Hazelwood, and students were upset that Pattonville was not canceled as well; many didn’t even come to school, deciding they would take their own “snow day.”
“Most students ride the bus, meaning they have to wait outside when it was 0 degrees,” senior Jasmine Carter said, who thinks we should have had a snow day. “Some (people) also walk to school.”
Sophomore Kennedy Carver said we should have as well, noting that the streets were snowy and icy.
Even though students were not happy with battling the cold, no snow day means we are one day closer to the last day of school.
Should the district call for a snow day for weather like this in the future?
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Steve Cochran – Jan 17, 2018 at 4:09 pm
The most important thing to consider is the safety and well being of the kids. Personally I don’t know, but If there are a number of them that must wait at bus stops or walking to school, then it should seriously be considered. This situation is not like incoming snow and how much, it was well known that it was going to be windy and cold. If it is considered in the future, more advance notice would be nice, like the evening before, not early the next morning.
Michelle DISalvo – Jan 17, 2018 at 3:09 pm
Yes I do because some buses were late. Some kids weren’t even picked up because they had subs who didn’t know where they were going. It’s too cold to be standing out there in those temps for more than 10 minutes.