Winter weather for this week!! (living, deal, buildings)
Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, CaryThe Triangle Area
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You must be fairly close to my husband's age. He graduated in 1999 from high school. In Michigan.
They rarely had a snow day OR morning delays.
This area really is different. Our winters are unpredictable. When I lived near Chicago, I found the winter storms to be far more predictable than any of our little storms here in the Triangle.
Truth is, I don't think WCPSS wants to potentially endanger any kids, bus drivers, teachers, etc.
I also think nobody wants a repeat of 2005 with kids spending the night at school.
Kids still get educated, despite the delay. I see no issue with erring on the side of caution.
The forecast called for black ice. That had nothing to do with how long or how much it snowed.
If the northern states cx or pushed back activities for what we do down here, they would be going year round. There is certainly a "risk/reward" point and I agree down here, way easier to just cx for the one or two days it might happen yearly than stay up and worry about it wondering if you did the right thing. I am still laughing about one time last year or year before where they canceled school at noon the day prior and it didn't even stick! Everyone around my wife's office literally freaks out when the "s" word is mentioned.
Some random thoughts after reading all these posts.
Growing up in Central NY, I can remember only a handful of times school closures were announced the night before. The lake-effect snow seemed to fall more often at night – much to our joy.
I think school closings in terms of risk-of-accident vs. consequence-of-accident
The chance of me burning my toast are pretty good if I am not paying attention. The consequence is pretty manageable – I have to re-make my toast.
What is the chance of a major bus crash – statistically fairly small.
What are the consequences? Potentially catastrophic. You can make a kid un-dead (the current popularity of zombies notwithstanding.)
When WCPSS closes, they are FLOODED with calls from angry parents.
When the snow falls and they don’t close, they are FLOODED with calls from angry parents. They can’t win
They speak personally with the TV meteorologists and National Weather Service and make their decision with the information that have. If the forecast is botched, the schools take the heat.
Why do the TV copy writers describe two inches of snow falling as “piling up?” “Why do they describe any ice as black ice?”
If the northern states cx or pushed back activities for what we do down here, they would be going year round. There is certainly a "risk/reward" point and I agree down here, way easier to just cx for the one or two days it might happen yearly than stay up and worry about it wondering if you did the right thing. I am still laughing about one time last year or year before where they canceled school at noon the day prior and it didn't even stick! Everyone around my wife's office literally freaks out when the "s" word is mentioned.
I wonder if they are worried or just excited? I can say that prior to 2005, everyone was just excited. It rarely snows here, so it's kinda fun when it does.
Having been someone who was in RTP back in January of 2005 and figured I could just drive on home (I don't have issues with driving in snow... I don't like driving in ice, though)... well, there I was... HOURS later... and no bathroom. And I'd had a cup of cocoa in the car. HA.
Yeah... I think people just want to go home if they think it might snow because... maybe it'll be a big ice ordeal... and that was VERY little snow. You just never know. LOL.
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Some random thoughts after reading all these posts.
Growing up in Central NY, I can remember only a handful of times school closures were announced the night before. The lake-effect snow seemed to fall more often at night – much to our joy.
I think school closings in terms of risk-of-accident vs. consequence-of-accident
The chance of me burning my toast are pretty good if I am not paying attention. The consequence is pretty manageable – I have to re-make my toast.
What is the chance of a major bus crash – statistically fairly small.
What are the consequences? Potentially catastrophic. You can make a kid un-dead (the current popularity of zombies notwithstanding.)
When WCPSS closes, they are FLOODED with calls from angry parents.
When the snow falls and they don’t close, they are FLOODED with calls from angry parents. They can’t win
They speak personally with the TV meteorologists and National Weather Service and make their decision with the information that have. If the forecast is botched, the schools take the heat.
Why do the TV copy writers describe two inches of snow falling as “piling up?” “Why do they describe any ice as black ice?”
Because they write news copy.
I do agree with what you're saying.
The Farmer's Almanac said it would snow this week, but the accumulation wouldn't be more than a couple inches... and that's pretty much exactly what happened. We should have them do the weather?
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Safety needs to be evaluated in an unemotional, rational way. More people are killed or seriously injured in Wake County by lightning strikes, poisonous snakes, gun violence, domestic abuse, and even by randomly falling trees than by school-bus accidents. The risk of death or serious injury by school-bus accident due to adverse weather in Wake County is negligible.
And if there was something that the schools could do about lightning strikes (keep kids inside, hey they do that!), venomous snakes (keep the school grounds clear of snakey areas), gun violence (require check-in procedures, school officers, etc), domestic abuse (mandated reporters, school social workers), randomly falling trees (school groundskeeping again), to keep kids safe they'd do it. If they can keep kids safe in potentially bad weather they'll do that too.
Got no issues with a two hour delay today. It still counts as a school day.
I remember once, way, way back in the mid 70's we had a serious ice storm in NYC. We had to walk to school with trees coated in ice and with enormous icicles hanging all over the place. We literally slipped and slid the whole way there and when I think about it now I cringe. I think about all those young children walking unsupervised (yeah, that long ago) and the threat of trees falling or cars spinning out of control and I can't believe the adults let us go.
Let WCPSS be overly cautious, our kids are worth the inconvenience.
And if there was something that the schools could do about lightning strikes (keep kids inside, hey they do that!), venomous snakes (keep the school grounds clear of snakey areas), gun violence (require check-in procedures, school officers, etc), domestic abuse (mandated reporters, school social workers), randomly falling trees (school groundskeeping again), to keep kids safe they'd do it. If they can keep kids safe in potentially bad weather they'll do that too.
Got no issues with a two hour delay today. It still counts as a school day.
I remember once, way, way back in the mid 70's we had a serious ice storm in NYC. We had to walk to school with trees coated in ice and with enormous icicles hanging all over the place. We literally slipped and slid the whole way there and when I think about it now I cringe. I think about all those young children walking unsupervised (yeah, that long ago) and the threat of trees falling or cars spinning out of control and I can't believe the adults let us go.
Let WCPSS be overly cautious, our kids are worth the inconvenience.
I think I remember this too (I lived in Yonkers then). I walked a half a mile to school (you whippersnappers, lol!) - just checked it on google maps because in my memory it felt like 10 miles
Hang on there...I thought that this was normal daily wear. At least the helmet anyway.
Nope. Just tin foil hats.
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