
Why NYC schools don't have snow days - lelf
http://www.slate.com/blogs/business_insider/2014/02/13/why_nyc_schools_don_t_have_snow_days.html
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stevekinney
(Former New York City public school teacher here.)

Farina is right about hot lunches, but that doesn't necessarily make her right
about school closures. In many low income neighborhoods, public schools
provide the important social service of providing hot meals to students who
would not otherwise have access.

That said, providing hot food is not inextricably linked to a full school day.
New York City public schools also offer breakfast and lunch during the summer
as well.

Part of what makes this a hard problem to solve is that the city's school
system is made up of a diverse group of adults and children. On one hand, you
have the parents who can't take off from work because they risk losing their
job. On the other hand, you have special needs students that are bussed around
the the city with their safety put at risk.

Many—but certainly not all—students attend school in their neighborhoods. My
wife used to work at a school that was literally in the center of the housing
project where the majority of the students lived. In this case, there is no
reason they couldn't make it to school.

But to keep a school open, you need teachers. Many teachers do not live in the
communities that they teach in. Some don't live in within city limits. Hoboken
and Jersey City (two neighboring cities that are closer to Manhattan than most
of Brooklyn and Queens) were closed. What do those teachers do with their
children? I've worked at schools with teachers commuting from as far as
central New Jersey to get to work every day.

A small subset of teachers will call out, but there is a lot of social
pressure from the school administration not to do this. This is mostly because
snowy days where schools are open tend to be absolute pandemonium.

To be honest, little to know learning happens on these days. It's a mess of
combined classes, substitute teachers, modified schedules, and usually a movie
in the auditorium as administrators scramble to figure out how bussing is
going to work at dismissal.

There needs to be some options between fully-operational and fully-closed that
better serves the needs of students and teachers based on the conditions
outside. Hot lunches for nearby students in need does not necessarily mean
that we need to buses full of students traveling across the city on icy
streets.

Part of the solution is for parents to keep their children home. I'm not sure
I understand the vitriol Farina and De Blasio received from parents. Just
because schools are open, doesn't mean that you have to send your kids. If you
feel that it's dangerous out, keep them home. As I said, little to no learning
is going to happen anyway. If you have to go to work, schools are open. I
think the bigger issue of school closures is how it affects teachers,
custodians, administrators, school safety, kitchen staff, etc.

