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Old 01-08-2015, 01:14 AM
 
Location: Chicago - Logan Square
3,396 posts, read 7,178,984 times
Reputation: 3731

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This is a big shift for CPS. Before the 2011 blizzard CPS had gone for a decade without a single day of being closed for weather. There were plenty of zero degree days during that time period that they never considered closing for.

Last year's closures made some sense, it was 15-20 degrees colder than it is now, and there is a big difference between -15 and 0. If CPS is setting a new standard of 0 degrees then they are basically saying that parents should expect to have 2 to 8 days of cancelled classes every year, and maybe double that in years with significant snowfall. That's flat out crazy.

While I'm sympathetic to the argument that there are a lot of kids that don't have gear to deal with these temps, I also can't recall any instances of ANY kid ever being reported as having a case of frostbite or hypothermia on cold days. I have also seen plenty of reports of kids being injured while being cared for by sketchy relatives or being left home alone. At best I think that the safety issue is a wash if school is cancelled. Most likely this is being done because there are a lot of CPS schools that have crappy heating systems that can't cope with temps below zero, and it's a lot cheaper to just cancel school than it is to fix the heating in those schools.
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Old 01-08-2015, 02:00 AM
 
321 posts, read 370,017 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The Northerner View Post
We just moved to the area last March. Kinda surprised by this. Have they always shut down schools when the real cold hits? This IS Chicago, right?
Not always, no. In fact, last year was really the first year they did, but it now appears it's going to become the norm during extreme cold. It wasn't long ago that Chicago had a streak of not closing schools for something like 20 years, and when they finally did it was due to completely impassible road, not just cold.

This is a growing trend nationwide, though. Schools don't want the liability that comes with requiring students to attend school in potentially dangerous weather.
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Old 01-08-2015, 02:24 AM
 
Location: Chicago
38,707 posts, read 102,780,358 times
Reputation: 29967
Quote:
Originally Posted by Attrill View Post
While I'm sympathetic to the argument that there are a lot of kids that don't have gear to deal with these temps, I also can't recall any instances of ANY kid ever being reported as having a case of frostbite or hypothermia on cold days. I have also seen plenty of reports of kids being injured while being cared for by sketchy relatives or being left home alone. At best I think that the safety issue is a wash if school is cancelled. Most likely this is being done because there are a lot of CPS schools that have crappy heating systems that can't cope with temps below zero, and it's a lot cheaper to just cancel school than it is to fix the heating in those schools.
As a couple other posters have implied... as long as the safety issue is a wash, it's also a risk management decision to shift the liability for any breach of safety onto those sketchy relatives or negligent parents.

Thing is, it's not just CPS that's cancelling school whenever the temperatures creep close to zero; well-funded suburban districts with modern facilities are doing it too. I suspect if this trend carries on too long there's going to be pushback from parents who have to answer to their employers for missing several days of work because someone has to stay home and look after the whelps who would otherwise be at school.
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Old 01-08-2015, 08:15 AM
 
Location: alt reality
1,085 posts, read 2,226,864 times
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All of the reasons have been stated. Also with the blizzard that happened in 2011 trapping everybody on lake shore drive and the ice storm 2013 in atlanta trapping everybody everywhere (kids spending the night at schools etc), schools all over are on hyper-alert now and they should be as they will have to care for these kids if the parents cannot get to them.
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Old 01-08-2015, 09:50 AM
 
Location: Chicago
2,884 posts, read 4,960,558 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve-o View Post
Schools never closed for cold when I was growing up, so why close em today? I had to wait for the bus in -30F weather, seemingly forever, in that kind of cold. I just think its the pussification of America.
And look who's living in AZ now!
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Old 01-08-2015, 10:48 AM
 
Location: Chicago
38,707 posts, read 102,780,358 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ParkerP View Post
All of the reasons have been stated. Also with the blizzard that happened in 2011 trapping everybody on lake shore drive and the ice storm 2013 in atlanta trapping everybody everywhere (kids spending the night at schools etc), schools all over are on hyper-alert now and they should be as they will have to care for these kids if the parents cannot get to them.
Except that not a single flake has fallen during the last two days the schools have been closed.
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Old 01-08-2015, 10:51 AM
 
17,183 posts, read 22,779,379 times
Reputation: 17472
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bellamouse View Post
I grew up in Oak Park. Graduated high school in 1981. Had drivers ed during the big snowstorm of '79. School was never canceled. Not even for that big snow. And the high school had 4000 students at that time, so it wasn't some rinky dink school. Oh, and I walked to school every.single.day. I never rode a school bus once in my life. In grammer school we still went home for lunch. I was a latch key kid and had to get myself home and back at lunchtime. We lived about 6 blocks from school.
The Blizzard was in 1978, not 1979. 1979 had a lot of snow, but not so much at one time. I can't find info online about school closings in 1978 though.

Oak Park schools were also closed in the blizzard of 2011


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MARh...yer_detailpage
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Old 01-08-2015, 11:04 AM
 
Location: The Hall of Justice
25,901 posts, read 42,563,959 times
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I think schools close not just for the students but for the teachers and administrators too, not to mention bus drivers, district staff, and other people whose children have closed schools. Just stay home and off the roads, and the kids will make up the days in May when it's warm. It doesn't bother me.
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Old 01-08-2015, 11:06 AM
 
Location: Chicago
38,707 posts, read 102,780,358 times
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Just because it doesn't bother you doesn't mean it's not a substantial inconvenience for a whole lot of other people. Schools shouldn't be closing unless there's a damn good reason, and IMO single-digit temperatures doesn't constitute one.
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Old 01-08-2015, 11:20 AM
 
Location: Lake Arlington Heights, IL
5,479 posts, read 12,202,243 times
Reputation: 2847
Quote:
Originally Posted by marothisu View Post
When I grew up in Minnesota, they wouldn't call school off unless the wind chill was below about -50F. I remember having the governor calling school off for the entire state because most of the state had -70 or worse wind chills. Now I see they lowered it to around -30 when calling school off.
Several years ago they changed how wind chill is calulated. IIRC correctly what used to be -50 is now -30.
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