Schools Are Closing (Again)

It's amazing to notice that schools in our area are already closing for tomorrow. With wind chills approaching –20° and the "regular" temperature a balmy –5°, schools are probably concerned with frostbite. Furthermore, the roads are getting blasted shut by the high winds. Our school hasn't closed yet, but we apparently lead the state with 12 so far in the school year.

That's a lot of time for students to miss school. That's a great amount of instructional time that is lost. Will schools end up making up a lot of time or will there be a grace administered by the Governor? It's hard to say. Certainly, we don't want to have students still in school late into June, but it's their education that is important.

It leads to some questions, though:

1) How much time should be forgiven?
2) Doesn't it make sense to go to year–round school in Michigan? Students would basically have July off in addition to several three–week breaks throughout the year.
3) Isn't our school–year and school–day rather archaic? Both were invented over 100 years ago and built around the farm season.
4) Don't students lose a lot of information during their three–month summer breaks?
5) Will we close or stay open tomorrow? As an administrator, I work anyway, but if the weather is lousy, then the students should stay inside and be warm.

Light a fire and try to stay warm!