[mels]

Originally Posted by Lincolnian

Most teachers prefer having school as opposed to a snow day as any day canceled is just added on at the end of the year. However, many schools start at 7:30 and the staff needs to be there at 7:15 am. In many cases the town has not plowed the parking lots and sidewalks have not been cleared by homeowners. Children for the high schools and middle schools are often picked up as early as 6:30 am. Unlike many private employers teachers cannot arrive late at work since they must be in their classrooms before the children arrive. Society has changed and like the private sector many teachers, approximately 50% in many larger districts, commute long distances to their job. When I was a kid neighborhood schools were the norm and most students walked a mile or more to school. The majority of the staff lived in town as did the majority of those people working in the private sector. In many districts as much as 95% of the students are bussed to school as many schools are now larger and geographically far from the majority of the student population.

And the corporate world analogy is not accurate. As mentioned earlier many employees go in later or in many cases work at home on bad weather days.

I didn’t think about the towns clearing the parking lots and sidewalks at school, good point. However, I am sure the corporate world analogy differs greatly by office and by field so YMMV. I work in engineering/hard sciences and we generally don’t/can’t work from home nor do we have the luxury of strolling in late because of an inch of snow. Maybe if you are a desk worker at an insurance company that would fly but not in my field. Hence, staying home for an inch or two of snow is frowned upon in my industry, and that is true for every company I have worked for.

Back to the weather itself: big fat flakes here in Hartford! It is starting to stick to roads now.

[Henry10]

Closing off schools is not uncommon for the 1st snowstorm of the season. As we get deeper into the winter, a 4" snow becomes normal when compared to a 24" snow-storm.

[7 Wishes]

Originally Posted by Lincolnian

Most teachers prefer having school as opposed to a snow day as any day canceled is just added on at the end of the year. However, many schools start at 7:30 and the staff needs to be there at 7:15 am. In many cases the town has not plowed the parking lots and sidewalks have not been cleared by homeowners. Children for the high schools and middle schools are often picked up as early as 6:30 am and need to stand in the road if the sidewalks are not cleared. This is a safety hazard for the students and a potential lawsuit for the municipality if a child was to be injured. Unlike many private employers, teachers cannot arrive late at work since they must be in their classrooms before the children arrive. Society has changed and like the private sector many teachers, approximately 50% in many larger districts, commute long distances to their job. When I was a kid neighborhood schools were the norm and most students walked a mile or more to school. The majority of the staff lived in town as did the majority of the people working in the private sector. In many districts as much as 95% of the students are bussed to school as many schools are now much larger and located geographically far from the majority of the student population.

The corporate world analogy is not accurate. As mentioned earlier, many employees go in later or work at home on bad weather days.

Another major factor is (especially at the middle or high school level due to needing to allow more after school time for sports, etc.) school often starts at 7-730am which in winter is still somewhat dark, especially during a storm. But sometimes when it's 'borderline' (like yesterday) and destined to end during the day schools have delays to deal with that.

Originally Posted by mels

I didn’t think about the towns clearing the parking lots and sidewalks at school, good point. However, I am sure the corporate world analogy differs greatly by office and by field so YMMV. I work in engineering/hard sciences and we generally don’t/can’t work from home nor do we have the luxury of strolling in late because of an inch of snow. Maybe if you are a desk worker at an insurance company that would fly but not in my field. Hence, staying home for an inch or two of snow is frowned upon in my industry, and that is true for every company I have worked for.

Back to the weather itself: big fat flakes here in Hartford! It is starting to stick to roads now.

While my experience back in my "corporate world" days was not much different than yours, usually most places I worked at did let you leave early enough so you were not driving home during a snowstorm in the dark.

[mels]

Originally Posted by 7 Wishes

While my experience back in my "corporate world" days was not much different than yours, usually most places I worked at did let you leave early enough so you were not driving home during a snowstorm in the dark.

Agreed. Leaving early to avoid/get ahead of weather is tolerated...calling out or arriving very late because of an inch or two of fluffy snow, not so much!

[Cambium]

Seeing big dry spot heading into CT. Couple heavy bands still around. Most of CT should se snow for another hour... Quick hitter. If Radar doesn't fill in, what you see is what you get.

I still see moisture over Central PA... have to watch those mountains affecting anything now.

2 inches here so far snowing lightly now.

[7 Wishes]

Originally Posted by Cambium

Seeing big dry spot heading into CT. Couple heavy bands still around. Most of CT should se snow for another hour... Quick hitter. If Radar doesn't fill in, what you see is what you get.

I still see moisture over Central PA... have to watch those mountains affecting anything now.

2 inches here so far snowing lightly now.

Yeah I've noticed on the radar it actually looks like its kind of "breaking up"....while I wouldn't call it a "complete dud" it looks like except for a brief spurt this morning that it's "underperforming" (yeah, I know, tell that to the people in Philly last Sunday.....)

[gmdealerguy]

Barely snowing in Scarsdale,NY now. Roads are all clear. Hope thats about the most of it........or id ther another wave coming?. Id prefer a non 3-5 hour commute back home to Derby tonight.

[wavehunter007]

It really is moving fast now. The precp shield seems to be flying. If it ends in the next hr I think my location east of New Haven might end up with less than 2 inches. So not too bad, at this rate we might even see the sun before long.

Just looked at ghostly image from the Marine Sciences Building in Groton.....shot is out toward Long Island Sound toward Fishers Island, NY. Seems like just about zero accumulation there. I guess this is why they call the southeast coast of Connecticut "the banana belt of CT" - lol:

[7 Wishes]

Originally Posted by gmdealerguy

Barely snowing in Scarsdale,NY now. Roads are all clear. Hope thats about the most of it........or id ther another wave coming?. Id prefer a non 3-5 hour commute back home to Derby tonight.

There's another batch down from Philly to DC that might get up here, not sure about it though.....the general direction of movement seems to suggest it will, I don't think it's as heavy as this morning's batch though.

[Mr_250]

Barely anything on the roads here in Hartford. Snow was hard for a bit, now it is barley a flurry.

Dud?!