Kjtc1979

I heard they had to walk to and from work and school during a blizzard. Uphill. Both ways. Seriously, with technology now allowing WFH and the fact that most of us are expected to be accessible outside work hours via mobile phone and email, it's silly not to play it safe and pivot to remote work for the day. Educators know that half the kids are out on days that snow anyway and they'll get better work out of the kids if they're remote or, even better, if they make the day up later in the year. Plus nobody gets hurt on school grounds and everybody avoids a dangerous commute, and the roads are lighter for emergency vehicles and snow removal.

NYC DOE staff have been informed that tomorrow will be a remote learning day and schools will be closed. Public announcement should be made before the close of the school day.

I'm NYC based, and ran a school in Queens. As a student, from K all the way through 12, school was only closed twice for inclement weather: Hurricane Gloria in 1986 and the Blizzard of 1996. We got hit locally very badly by the 93 Noreaster, but schools were still open that day. None of us from my area made it in. The snow that we got once I became a teacher and then principal was on a completely different level than anything I saw growing up. But NYC schools are under mayoral control, and who the mayor is made a big impact on whether or not we got a snow day. DeBlasio was quick to close, while Bloomberg avoided it at all costs. DeBlasio being a Brooklyn guy and Bloomberg a Manhattan guy might have a lot to do with that. It's hard for Manhattan folks to imagine how hard it is to get around the other four boroughs during and after a bad snowstorm!

I was a school principal for ten years, and we had the authority to make the call to close on our own. My rule of thumb was to close the day before if there was a credible threat. The days of waiting until the snow is on the ground and accumulating depended heavily on their being a parent at home to pick up/watch the kids. These days, parents need as much time as possible to know schools are closed, so they can make child care arrangements. State laws require X number of school days per year, so the students will just be in on another day this year. It's always better to err on the side of caution and just make the day up later in the year. Everyone's safe and you don't waste an instructional day on a half empty school building. And for the record, I would've closed today for one simple reason: the risk of snow covering up ice patches and kids/staff/families getting hurt. Ice is always the biggest threat around a school building, and so many children are brought to/from school by their grandparents.

I'm fine, thanks! I landed perfectly flat on my back and didn't even bruise.

I slipped and slid down the stairs of the train station. The ice is terrible everywhere.

We just got a Winter Storm Warning: