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Menu
how about that 2 hour cold delay today . .
Here is my issue with all this…
My son had to go to school saturday, but then is off monday for MLK day…not to mention they don't attend saturday school to make up the curriculum missed, they just go to get in the required amount of days. Like adding the days at the end of the year…the kids don't do any school work, they watch movies and all around just find ways to waste the time to reach the magic number of necessary days. If you make our kids go on saturdays the least they could do is hold a regular school type day…don't waste our time because of stupid regulations that don't work for anyone. After the EOG tests there is nothing that a child's present classroom, teacher, or grade can offer because the work has been completed and the material has been learned for that particular grade level, so let's not add the days at the end, just cut out some holidays and send the kids on saturday to have actual class.
I agree with many here who defend the administrators' decisions to err on the side of caution, but as someone who doesn't miss work due to inclement weather I also agree there needs to be a better solution. In the county the districts are still too big; there are many no school days when I leave for work and all the roads in my neighborhood are clear not to mention the primary routes. Based on the lines of cars heading into the schools in the morning, many parents don't utilize the buses even in good weather so canceling school because travel by bus is too dangerous seems silly. I like the idea of bus routes being reconfigured on days with dodgy road secondary roads so that school didn't have to be canceled.
@Nancy-Perhaps they are making the call the day before because they ARE thinking about the parents. Doesn't this allow you time to try to make other arrangements if you need to get to work at 8am??
Of course everyone should be careful, mountain weather is spotty and hard to predict, these decisions aren't easy and the school administrators care about the kids. BUT…
The decsion about Friday was made about 9:30 Thursday evening when it was fairly warm, despite the fact that under much more obvious circumstances the past 2 weeks, they waited until morning. What was the rush?
On Friday morning, I awoke at 5:45 and the temp was 36 degrees. A short while later, the Citizen-Times reported that according to city dispatchers, there was NO ICE ON ASHEVILLE CITY STREETS. The 2 hour delay was just a bad decision made prematurely.
The real problem though isn't the tough decisions, it is the system that forces them.
Suggestions: If roads have any problems (real or imaginary), restrict the buses to only main roads. Every city school is easy walking distance from easily passable roads: Merrimon, S. French Broad, Haywood Rd., Montford Ave and McDowell. When the hilly roads near Vance and Hall Fletcher are a little icy, unload the buses on Haywood Rd., have teachers posted there and along the walk to the school, and let the kids use their legs a little.
And if a family lives on a winding, icy road, they should walk the kids to the nearest main road where they can get the school bus.
The idea behind NO B– — USES ON ICY ROADS is supposed to be that the buses do roll so schools too can roll.
Truth is they should start this system even in good weather to shorten bus routes and save gas, and get everyone used to walking a little more. That would save enough money to make special accomodations for folks with handicaps and a few special geographic situations.
Most everyone I know who lives and works in the city got to work on each of this year's "snow" days. The City of Asheville, is not in same situation as Buncombe. Main roads were fine for the first part except for the second of the "snow" days.
Ash, I believe there is a not-so-subtle agenda at work here and it is high time the media here exposed it. The superindendents say they need "local control" over the school calendar and they are bent on canceling school at the drop of a flake to try to get waivers from Raleigh and start school earlier in August.
What I've heard from many teachers is that the administrators want the high school students to be able to take EOC tests for the first semester before Christmas break – that's why they want to start earlier. If that's true, that would be just a tad rediculous. I haven't heard any other important reason to demand such power over families and local economies.
My companion gripe about the schedule is that they make testing THE central theme of school. So after the end of grade tests, there is little hold over the kids and the teachers end up resorting to running cartoon and film festivals (ask any parent what the last 8 or so school days turn into). So, until they come to their senses and stop caring so much about standardized tests, can they at least give them within the last 3 days of school so as to not artificially shorten the educational calendar (as opposed to the school calendar). They can give make-up tests in a central location during the few days after the official end of the school year.
What they're doing now is telling kids to value education, while showing disregard for what really takes place in the classroom. There is a half-day make-up day now scheduled on Memorial Day. How many kids will really be there? What films will they get to watch? (Ask parents about what happened last year.)
Ash, please don't let this stuff drop. Thank you.
I never thought my kids would be homeschoolers.
Honestly, i don't understand why a school bus has to ply the narrowest roads in Buncombe county every single day of the school year. This week, North Buncombe students attended only four hours of class. FOUR HOURS OF CLASS IN FIVE DAYS.
Granted, the county is downright negligent when it comes to maintaining suburban roadways. We didn't see a hint of salt in my neighborhood (which is part of the bus route) until Wednesday afternoon.
Yes, many neighborhood roads are not safe for a bus, but they are fine for cars (as witnessed by the thousands of people who get to work every morning). If bus service is the real concern, the schools should set up a Plan B bus route, whereby children are picked up at a later time, at more accessible locations (i.e. parents could wait with them at a church parking lot or convenience store located on a main roadway). But this crap of shutting down schools just because it looks a little frosty has got to stop.
No amount of headache or inconvenience is worth one single child in all of Buncombe County being injured.
I would feel better if they made the call at 6am, but when they "make the call" at 4pm the day before, that stretches my ability to feel like they're taking into account the toll this takes on parents. That said, I agree that it's not just the bus's ability to drive safely, it's the cars *around* the bus also.
As with anything else – it's easy to quarterback from your arm chair and do nothing but complain. Safety first and if you don't like it, as Kevin said, there are other options for you.
Yet another reason not to have kids… or homeschool them!!!
And here we go: http://www.wxii12.com/news/26172421/detail.html
Two Winston-Salem Forsyth County school buses were involved in crashes Friday morning while taking students to school following a weather-induced two-hour delay.
To address something said above: Areas that have harsher winters make a much greater investment in road clearing equipment, etc. The schools rely on state investment for those things. Asheville schools can't control the budget of state DOT and I'll bet that the folks who are raising hell about a two hour delay wouldn't submit to a voluntary tax increase to invest in better/more snow clearing equipment.
No one has even mentioned the danger that buses face from other drivers. You can train bus drivers until they are ready to drive Formula One, but if some schlub slides through a red light, you still have a problem.
The teachers are the ones who are hurt worst when the year is extended or breaks are shortened. Outside of minimum attendance requirements, there is nothing saying a kid can't miss a day of school if their parents have already planned time out of town. The teachers are required to be there.
I applaud the hard work all school administrators do at this time of the year. Take this morning (Friday 17th), my wife slid all over the road on black ice in our neighborhood when she went out at 8am, and she had 4-wheel drive. By the time I left to take my child to school at 9:25 am, the ice was gone. Great call!
Rather than close school for everyone on days like this week, they need to give each student X amount of "flex" snow days, and operate on a normal schedule.
Safety and economics are both important to the people of Asheville and no employer or parent wants the death of a child at the expensive of going to work.
I think we are most frustrated that the school bus system is not properly prepared for winter. We are not the only state in the country to have snow. There is preventive maintenance, training and equipment available for driving in conditions much worse than ours.
If the weather continues to get colder each year, delaying school and better solutions is probably not the answer.
I think it's just crazy to close and delay schools when it's totally clear out! And it's going to force them to have school on Saturdays and shorter breaks!
I know they have moved alot of work to Mexico. Please people buy USA Made only!
The moment the schools worry about whether or not the parents get in trouble for being late to work is the moment they wind up with a bus on its side and 75 kids in the hospital.
There's no question they are way overprotective, but that's what they get paid to do. They don't have the option of saying "we're going to have school but we aren't going to run the bus system."
This same argument happens every single time that it snows. It's unpleasant for everyone when you have a delay, but it's been this way forever and it's not going to change.
People also need to remember that the weather conditions at their house aren't the same as weather conditions around the rest of town. A couple of miles can make a big difference in temps and road conditions. If you don't trust the public schools to make a choice about your child's safety, there are plenty of other options, though not all of them are so inexpensive.
Folks have to lighten up on school officials. The Superintendant and a few others are up at 3am or so to run around Buncombe County to make sure the roads are safe for YOUR child, mom and dad. In this particular situation, weather scenario made for a tight call. Could you imagine if they approved a 2 hour delay and a bus or parent got into an accident on the way to school. What would happen then? I understand the frustration people have, but put yourself in their position.