tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2974406546323301344.post7514449654426185051..comments2023-04-08T06:06:13.055-07:00Comments on Notes from the Pens: Just Say No!Aya Katzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07830585801297506770noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2974406546323301344.post-78481927962882375072014-01-06T15:48:51.361-08:002014-01-06T15:48:51.361-08:00Well, I am glad the parents in the San Bernardino ...Well, I am glad the parents in the San Bernardino Mountains were independent enough to make the decision to keep the children home when it was not safe for them to go to school, regardless of what the authorities said.Aya Katzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07830585801297506770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2974406546323301344.post-21868778449661808452014-01-06T14:37:28.115-08:002014-01-06T14:37:28.115-08:00Well in the San Bernardino Mountains snow is not j...Well in the San Bernardino Mountains snow is not just snow, it is treacherous because we have exceedingly windy roads, and some of these gain thousand feet in elevation in less than a mile. There are only a couple of schools on the mountain for elementary kids, and this means some kids would have to walk ten miles, so their parents usually drive them, or they take the bus. I was on a bus that nearly went off the side of a windy road during a snow storm, and the roads were deemed so treacherous between my house and the local junior high, that we had to walk two miles from the bus stop, to get a bus about five miles from school. We do not get persistent snow like in the midwest, but when it does snow, it can be a life and death situation. People have been injured and died driving in these conditions, so that one day when they called school, I think parents decided not to put their kids at risk.Jhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11147781152448695481noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2974406546323301344.post-31527464777522997712014-01-06T11:54:27.140-08:002014-01-06T11:54:27.140-08:00Yes, it is good that they did call school off this...Yes, it is good that they did call school off this time, because the weather is quite severe. When I went to school one year in Michigan, I don't recall that there were any snow days off, though it snowed often and the streets were icy, and also I had to walk to school as there was no bus. Aya Katzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07830585801297506770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2974406546323301344.post-53812220086102038332014-01-06T11:35:03.596-08:002014-01-06T11:35:03.596-08:00At least they call school when there is a lot of s...At least they call school when there is a lot of snow. I remember one year in 1995 that the roads were absolutely dangerous, but the school district refused to call a snow day all because they wanted to reserve the snow days to have an extra week off in May. Well I think only 10% of the kids came to school that particular day, and even parents who were teachers did not send their kids to school. One teacher who was in favor of school on any day that is snows would shame us, and talk about how in 1969 they did not even have snow days. Well with severe car wrecks on our curvy roads with ice, and kids falling on the ice, he looked kind of silly. Plus, I think it taught the district a lesson about not being so gung ho when it came to not calling snow days since they lost more money with people pulling their kids out of school, rather than just using their allotted snow day.Jhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11147781152448695481noreply@blogger.com