Lack of Snow Day Has Chilling Effect
On December 8, 2009, due to some pretty foul weather predictions, most of the 1,953 students of ABRHS were confident that the next day would be a snow day. However, to the disbelief of many, school went on that day without even a delay.
A small number of people viewed our superintendent’s decision as an effort to keep up a tradition of trying not to give out a large number of snow days. After all, this is New England, and people should know how to deal with bad weather. The lack of a snow day also meant that students would get out of school a day earlier for summer vacation.
However, the disadvantages of spending the day at school outweighed the benefits.
Numerous complaints ranged from wasting class time during first period due to poor driving conditions to the fact that students were distracted all day.
Because of the horrible conditions outside, the vast majority of students, whether they chose to walk, take the bus, be driven, or dare to drive themselves, were late to school. The administration had no choice but to mark students as on time even if they arrived up to twenty minutes late. Teachers complained that their first period classes were in complete shambles, as students entered rooms continuously throughout the class, making it impossible to teach a complete lesson. Though a few teachers managed to get some students to work productively, many instead resorted to playing class games, telling stories, or letting kids do whatever they wanted. Once first period ended, most students had finally arrived to school in one piece. Teachers who have multiple periods of the same level class were now one day behind with their first period classes. An entire day of learning is difficult to recover, which occasionally results in rushes to finish up lessons before the next test.
The constant stream of late students was also part of the reason that students were distracted all day. People were diverted by the endless amount of snow that kept falling outside their classroom windows. Instead of listening to teachers or focusing on class work, many were preoccupied by happier thoughts of snowball fights, or worrying about cleaning their car off and driving home through the snow at the end of the day.
Other students argued that there should have been a snow day because of the dangerously slippery condition of the roads. “I definitely think school should’ve been canceled,” Jenna Zhang, a freshman, remarked. “It was so slippery outside that a car skidded down the hill that leads to my house and came to a stop in my front yard!” Fellow freshman Alexis Handelman agrees. “My bus couldn’t get up a hill because of a car crash,” she remarks. Upperclassmen faced even more problems, especially those who drove themselves to school despite the weather. The unplowed roads paired with inexperienced drivers led to a lot of scary experiences driving to school, whether it be skidding on the roads or even crashing their cars.
At the end of the day, seniors who drove to school were released early so they would have enough time to clean off their cars. Most students had brushes to clean off their cars, but struggled to back out over the accumulated snow. Luckily, the custodial staff and monitors were fully prepared with shovels, helping students dig out their cars and even pushing cars out of parking spaces to ensure that students got out safely. Although everyone managed to get home in one piece, the entire situation could have been avoided had there been a delay to get the roads somewhat clear, or no school at all.
Although New Englanders would like to keep up the image of being invincible in any weather, this was one case where that image should have been put aside. The dangerous driving conditions paired with distracted students and teachers made for a day of useless pandemonium. School should not have taken place that day due to dangerous conditions, but the possibility exists that by wanting it so much, students jinxed the snow day that should have happened.
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