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Some elitism, and some just plain cluelessness. "Let them eat cake!"
And yet these things are nothing that people in my own hometown (poverty level 24%), adopted hometown, (poverty level 37%) (as compared to Chicago's 27%) aren't able to accomplish.
Looks to me that what you call elitism I call knowing how to deal with cold weather.
OP, you seem to be arguing an all or nothing point. As has been pointed out, there are many variables. Should schools always, no matter what close at 0? No. Should some schools close at 0, depending on other factors? yes.
I can see where it might appear that way due to evolution of the conversation. My OP was a general question. As you might guess, I agree with you. Too many variables.
Many challenged me on Chicago, claiming 0 in Chicago is worthy of closing schools. That I find debatable. 25 degrees below the normal temperature isn't that bad. The average low in my hometown, for instance, is around 0 in December and January. Yet school wasn't cancelled when the high was -40 (I don't even want to think what the wind chill was)
I think there is a better solution, as evidenced by the poster mentioning letting kids out of school if their family feels they should miss that day.
And yet these things are nothing that people in my own hometown (poverty level 24%), adopted hometown, (poverty level 37%) (as compared to Chicago's 27%) aren't able to accomplish.
Looks to me that what you call elitism I call knowing how to deal with cold weather.
The poverty level in general in Chicago may be 27%, but the children in the public schools are 85% in poverty.
In Chicago, middle class and wealthy parents send their kids to private schools.
The poverty level in general in Chicago may be 27%, but the children in the public schools are 85% in poverty.
In Chicago, middle class and wealthy parents send their kids to private schools.
That is an excellent point-and goes to show why it is even more important the Chicago schools be open to provide a warm space, safe environment, nutritious meals and education.
On a side note: It is really depressing the general public would move away from their public school system like that.
That is an excellent point-and goes to show why it is even more important the Chicago schools be open to provide a warm space, safe environment, nutritious meals and education.
On a side note: It is really depressing the general public would move away from their public school system like that.
But, the parents don't have cars, the kids often don't have appropriate winter clothing (they have some, but not for these cold temps and wind chills), the system does NOT have buses for any but a select few (mostly special needs), so getting them to school without frostbite is a real problem.
Also, if the schools were actually safe and also decent educationally, the public would not have moved away from them. The thing is parents have to consider their own children above the public welfare. Besides the educational problems, many of Chicago's schools are not very safe (kids get bullied, kids get drugs promoted to them, kids get gang members wanting them to join).
Nice exchange summary. Where does it mention anything about wind chill not contributing to the feeling outside?
When I asked why you didn't include wind chill, you said they are two different things as if wind chill did not matter. You offered no other explanation or qualifier. That was the course the conversation took. Why should I not come to the reasonable conclusion that you feel wind chill should not be a factor in this decision? Further, if you feel wind chill should not be a factor, why is it so weird for me to assume you feel wind chill is a secondary or nonexistent factor in how cold it feels?
I can see where it might appear that way due to evolution of the conversation. My OP was a general question. As you might guess, I agree with you. Too many variables.
Many challenged me on Chicago, claiming 0 in Chicago is worthy of closing schools. That I find debatable. 25 degrees below the normal temperature isn't that bad. The average low in my hometown, for instance, is around 0 in December and January. Yet school wasn't cancelled when the high was -40 (I don't even want to think what the wind chill was)
I think there is a better solution, as evidenced by the poster mentioning letting kids out of school if their family feels they should miss that day.
The average low in Pennsylvania is 28° in February.
This past week, we've seen temperatures dip below freezing plus windchill factor to make it -25° to -40°. These are way past the normal temperatures we are accustomed to in this area. Our normal climate is not this freezing cold. Our buildings and our cars and our infrastructure (ie - nowhere to plug cars in like a PP mentioned) is not built for those extreme temperatures.
That is an excellent point-and goes to show why it is even more important the Chicago schools be open to provide a warm space, safe environment, nutritious meals and education.
On a side note: It is really depressing the general public would move away from their public school system like that.
Last year we had a brutal cold snap here in Indianapolis. A snowstorm dumped a foot of snow and was followed by wind chills dropping to the -40 degree range and daytime highs for a couple days around -5 to -10 degrees. Schools were closed due to the cold and the snow but a handful opened for a couple hours for lunch because some families rely on the school lunch program for their kids to get a meal. This was met with a lot of controversy. Some thought it was great for the school to still provide kids lunch that need it. Others thought it was worse because it sent kids that likely had to walk to get that lunch out into dangerous wind chills and through a foot of snow if sidewalks weren't cleared off. It's kind of a double edged sword.
I think it's crazy to close schools for "cold weather". Parents should be responsible for dressing their kids properly, and there is no excuse not to do that.
For the record, I am 54 years old and my youngest is a junior in high school. I never heard of schools closing for "cold weather" before last year (2013-14 school year).
I grew up in northern New Jersey, a suburb of NYC. I now live in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania and so far we have had one "cold weather closing" and a bunch of 2-hour delays for "cold weather".
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