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Comments
This is silly
2-3" of snow? When the majority of students and employees are remote? So lucky my kid is in a non-crucial grade this year...
Charter, parochial and private school kids will, of course, get a full day of learning in.
Get your facts straight
Not true. I work at a private school and we just found out we have early dismissal. Same for a friend that works for a charter school.
YMMV
Other private schools are going forward with in-person school as normal.
Hey Teach, early dismissal
Hey Teach, early dismissal isn't a closure.
I have anecdotal evidence to the contrary
My son's school, in Roslindale, is open for in person today.
I do have the one gripe about all of this that I had last week. If they are remote, why are they ending early? The little one's school had this last Monday, and every single person involved, most importantly including the teacher, were at their individual homes. What difference does the 2.5 hours (or as it was for us 4 hours) make except that it is 2.5 hours of missed instruction?
But but but
we can't deprive the kids of even a partial snow day. Even though they're getting five full days of vacation next week anyway.
BPS closings
All private schools in Boston, and surrounding municipalities, follow Boston City Hall’s decision. If it happens to snow after 5pm-ish, we have class. If snowing during morning through dismissal schools closed. Safety first folks. I can sniff out the “transplants” based on their complaints or lack of knowledge as far as how the city makes its decisions....GEEZ!
Not all privates schools in Boston
and certainly not other municipalities follow BPS school closing due to weather. Check out some of their sites and you will see some have a full day of school today.
FWIW, Boston is looking at 4
FWIW, Boston is looking at 4-6" and falling for the duration of the school day.
But I don't get these half days for remote learning (I know why it is advantageous to not cancel a full day) but if you want to give the kids a traditional snow day, let them have the full day and make it up at the end of the year like we normally do. If full-time remote learning is not making the mark for most of our students, half-day remote learning will certainly not do the job.
Kids are not office drones.
Kids are not office drones. The opportunity to shake up the monotony of remote schooling is a godsend for our kids and with a half day they don’t have to extend this awful year any longer than it needs to be. At our school snow days at the end of the year end up being half days as well and lightly attended so this is a win for everyone when you add in the funding piece of it.
Well, they're getting five days
of vacation next week anyway, so giving them a half day to "break up the monotony" of remote learning makes no sense. As for the tired "excuse" of not wanting to extend the year because of snow days that is repeated ad nauseum every year, there's an easy solution to that. If schools have any snow days beyond the "allowable" amount, then reduce February and April vacations to make up for it so you don't have to endure the "torture" of extending the school year in June.
You sound like a barrel of
You sound like a barrel of fun at parties.
At any rate, the teachers union and staff won’t let that happen. They have defined benefits and PTO like most skilled employees and you can’t just take it away.
lots of good reasons for early release
my kid isn’t school aged yet, and both parents work from home. even i can see how the extra couple of hours would free one of us up to go shovel the cars out etc.
i can’t imagine how difficult it would be to balance all that if one of us had to work in the evening or something.
Mom, what's a classroom?
It's been so long we forget what they look like.
Could only be so lucky
I've spent 20 years trying to forget.
It's total BS
OK, it's going to snow, so let's not have in-person classes. Lame, but at least there is a public safety reason, so OK. But why on Earth is the instruction just half a day? Someone please explain how that makes ANY sense.
Many educators and school
Many educators and school staff are still working on-site, at the schools. The early dismissal provides them an opportunity to safely travel home.
20-20 hind-sight
Well it didn't start snowing until 11:30 and now at 1:35 it's snowing but the roads are are still perfectly clear.
It doesn't make any sense.
My high schooler has been remote since last March and does not need time off to play in the snow. If some students have family issues and need to take the time off, then let them. Why cancel all online school for everyone? BPS is a s#!tshow and needs someone who can take control and put the children first.
Are the teachers doing the
Are the teachers doing the remote learning from the schools - to use the tech available - or do you want them to wing it at home with whatever inadequate equipment they have on hand.
Most of my kid's teachers
are working from home so there is no reason not to have full online school day. And by "full" I mean the usual 3 hours of actual learning time which ends before 1:30. They had a half day today and my kid still had a study during that time. There have been no plows out today and it's almost 3 p.m. and my little side road is completely free of snow since it had been treated after last snow on Sunday. BPS needs to get its act together.
If it's absurd
It must be in a contract somewhere.
Maybe
Even with remote classes some people still need to report to school buildings and closing earlier makes it easier for them to get home. Not sure about Boston but in some districts teachers conduct remote classes from their empty classrooms.
It could also help parents who take their children to another location for them to complete their online classes and some of these locations might be closing early.
I don't know if either of these things are the reason behind the decision but it's not hard to come up with logical reasons why they might want to end instruction earlier than normal.