With the close of last school year, I completed my 30th campaign in education. Each of those years has been filled with joy and sorrow, challenges and successes, ups and downs and a ton of stories worth sharing. My (True) Life in Education Thus Far will detail 30 or so of those stories. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed living (most) of them!
SNOW DAYS
DECEMBER 14, 2022
I love Snow Days. I am very wary of people who do not.
As a student, what was better than having a surprise day off?
As an educator, though I was and remain the type of teacher who plans my curriculum fairly tightly over the course of a trimester or semester, I simply loved a holiday that was not on the calendar.
As a principal, I will admit that Snow Days cause me some stress. I am the person responsible for making the decision about when to call a delay, how long any delay should be or when to simply close school. There are significant ramifications of each of these choices and, believe you me, everyone has an opinion about the choices I make.
But I still love Snow Days.
I especially love the ones that are obvious, that shut down the city before the 10 O’clock News, the ones that everyone knows are snow-pocalypses. Those are rare, but they are perfect.
Over the last few years, all of us in education have learned that we can do school remotely, perhaps not perfectly, but we can do it. And, because of that, there is the concept that we should not miss days of education for weather. We can power through online.
Pardon me while I say I hate that notion.
As I noted above, I love Snow Days. I am very wary of people who do not.
Bring them on.
