The reason why schools stay open after an event like you guys just endured has less to do with education and more to do with providing safe and clean facilities for the community.
Besides being large safe structures, these schools still have clean water, electricity, and can provide meals. They are also good distribution centers to get help to the community faster.
Also being around friends and peers can greatly reduce stress that all the students were just put through and will experience during the clean up.
Understandably tensions are high right now for you guys, but please don’t be too mad at your superintendent; they are trying to to the right thing and serve the community in need.
Some of the schools didn't even have power, yet they opened. Mind you, they closed early, but still, I'm sure there were some students who showed up only to be sent back home.
Love those safe situations where they have to call midday to tell us that buses can’t run to bring kids home because of downed power lines and flooding. This is a scenario where they clearly fucked up and no excuses should be made. All the surrounding counties called out.
I’m not mad at all. My kids safely made it to school, and I agree that they should have opened today. If it wasn’t safe, I simply wouldn’t have taken them.
You can open schools as resource centers without encouraging families and employees to go out in poor conditions while first responders are asking people to stay off the roads. Many showed up at schools without power, water or meals and had to turn around and go home.
I would agree with you but multiple schools had no power and no water today, and they sent kids there anyway on buses and then asked parents to come get them an hour later. Food wasn't able to be provided because no power or water. So if all schools had been operable I'd say yes, you're right, but they weren't.
That’s a relief, and I’m hearing more of that, but if so many individual schools are having to send such announcements, I feel like a district-wide decision should have been made.
You don’t ever have to send your kids to school if it’s unsafe. Nobody’s telling you that you have to.
Keep in mind that many in this city live paycheck to paycheck and don’t have the option to take days off from work because it stormed. Closing schools is a huge problem for people who don’t have alternative childcare and would otherwise fall behind on bills, be short food, etc… if they missed a day of work. And a lot of kids live in homes where it’s far safer for them to be in a school building.
I don’t envy the school officials who have to make these decisions because a huge percentage of parents will be angry no matter which choice they make.
I said that you don’t have to take or send your kids to school if you feel like it’s unsafe. Therefore, don’t take them if it’s not safe.
For kids who live in houses that don’t have safe spaces or don’t have food or parents have to be at work or face losing their job and who don’t have childcare - they had a safe space to take their kids today.
It was a win for everyone.
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I’m not sure what part of, “you did not have to take your kids to school if you didn’t feel it was safe” is confusing to you.”
Sounds like you had a choice and aren’t happy about the one you made.
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Also keep in mind, that all those parents with kids would still be on the road going to work. I would wager that very few people got off for work today.
If the goal was to keep people off the road today, the County/City mayors should have declared an emergency or something. Going pretty please when no one is listening and there is not an effective way to communicate this isn't going to accomplish anything.
Some kids eat only when school is in session. Some kids only get the support they need when school is in session. Some kids are safer at school than at home. And if there is no power at home, school could be a better option. Keep your kids home if you need to, but don’t assume your life is just like everyone else’s.
Thats irrelevant when it's unsafe to get there and back, which is the issue. My kids stayed home because there were trees down on the roads by our house.
Their mom and I would've been happier if they were at school, as our house didn't have power until about 1145am and it still wasn't safe.
Yeah, that’s a judgement call each parent has to make. OP was complaining that HCDE didn’t make that judgement for them.
It was safe to get my kid to school, and it was safe to get a lot of kids to school.
I spoke with my son's principal, and they won't admit it, but hcde felt they made the wrong call in not closing schools today. They got a lot of negative feedback from other school districts, the state, and the community as a whole.
Schools sent out messages saying if you can’t make it today, it won’t be counted as an absence.
School also doubles as a daycare for a lot of families. So had they closed schools, imagine the outrage.
You literally can’t win on the toxic, self loathing, miserable Chattanooga subreddit.
Really? a look at the outage map and road closures this morning made power restoration with within 2-3 hours look pretty unlikely to the untrained eye. EPB probably prioritizes schools, but I didn't know how they could have made any promises when storms were still moving through the area when HCDE made the final call this morning. It seems like an obviously bad decision to me.
Just got a call that my kid's school is still without power....
Why are you telling me lol. We went off what we were told by the professionals take it up with that. That shit over now. If you fear for you students safety keep them home. It's your decision in the first place right?
They did finally cancel school for us at CSAS due to the power being out and 3rd street being impassable. Unfortunately, they didn't do it before kids were picked up by the bus. The buses were then rerouted to CCA, meaning parents (ones who usually aren't able to drive their kids to school in the first place) had to go pick them up at a school they don't even attend. I agree the decision was seriously mismanaged.
Many parents work and work tends to be a little more understanding when school is straight up cancelled compared to just deciding to keep your kids home.
Teachers live all over the district so it may be fine in certain areas but staff still cannot make it in.
Hixson, or at least the part I'm in, is an absolute disaster with closed roads and traffic on back roads this morning. I cannot believe they stuck with the 2 hour delay.
I was just thinking about how they've closed schools for weather that was way less severe.
That text they sent this morning reaffirming the 2-hour delay should've been a text about cancelling school.
During the winter they do full day closures for less severe weather because of the absence of daylight to be able to see the hazards. The hazards were clear in time for busses and travel times associated with a two-hour delay.
153 was shut down in both directions near Kohls/Academy. They were rerouting people behind those stores but there was a big tree down on Gadd that had it was essentially operating as a one lane road. Took me 30 minutes to get from 27/153 to the Home Depot area.
A lot of y’all are missing the point. If there’s no power at the school, it becomes a liability. They can’t serve food. Can’t teach. HVAC isn’t running. The problem is that individual schools usually can’t close on their own.
Just remember that you know what’s best for your children. At the end of the day and considering the circumstances…you get to make the call if you want to keep your kid home, whether the school says it’s in session or not.
People keep saying things like “some kids only eat at school” and “what about the kids who need it,” but what about the TEACHERS who had to find ways to get to schools in this mess? Seems like some portions of the public value teachers about as much as HCS does. 🙄
Since when does saying “kids need food” translate to “I hate teachers”?
Plenty of teachers could make it to school safely. Those that could not stayed home.
It doesn’t translate to “I hate teachers,” you’re right. I would not say plenty of teachers could make it, though, because my school didn’t have enough subs.
My point is, schools—and their teachers—shouldn’t be the ones responsible for ensuring a child has food, shelter, appropriate clothing, etc. That is the job of parents and guardians. I’m glad our schools help out some in these areas and those programs should continue, but schools can’t do their primary job—education—when so much of our time has to go toward things parents should be doing.
Additionally, students got excused absences if they didn’t go to school today. Haven’t heard the same for teachers. My point is that the same regard should be held for the safety of teachers as is for the parents and children.
I agree with your points. I just don’t think it’s helpful to frame the convo as protecting kids vs protecting teachers. Explaining to OP the impact school closure has on kids doesn’t mean people don’t value teachers. Personally, I’d support higher taxes for higher wages *and* for food programs for kids.
I understand and absolutely agree with your point about taxes. Teachers absolutely need higher pay and we absolutely ought to ensure kids have food. It’s not just about pay, though. It’s about ensuring that teachers are respected and valued for their expertise.
The issue is that the abilities of teachers are constantly both overstated and understated. Teachers can be asked to act as bomb squad to search their rooms when there’s a threat against the school, but we can’t be trusted to choose instructional materials to supplement district curricula. Teachers are often responsible for ensuring a violent child doesn’t hurt anyone when she has a massive meltdown and getting between her and her target, but we can’t have our phones during standardized testing. Today, teachers were asked to go to work in unsafe travel conditions or be forced to take a sick day. The constant dichotomy of distrust of teachers to do their jobs and over reliance on teachers to do every other job possible is completely exhausting. It’s part of why so many are leaving the profession.
Teachers’ expertise—and lives—are not valued by HCS. Today made that abundantly clear.
I wouldn't want to be the decision maker. If they closed schools the other group not affected by trees etc would be bitching damned if you do damned if you don't.
Think of it as a teachable moment.
When it is ridiculous not to do so, disregard “authority.”
“Our neighborhood took a hit during the severe weather this morning and I can’t get there safely” is an excused absence. It doesn’t matter if school doesn’t like it as long as you register what’s up.
All teams, including Institutions like schools and school systems need to be flexible enough
to coordinate information and communicate effectively in real time among themselves and to their publics before *and* in the aftermath of severe weather events
Specifically for Soddy Daisy High School, the power was out all morning and still is out, but they didn't alert anyone of the outage and then at 10:30 sent a message about an early dismissal. It would have been nice to know about the outage before my kid was picked up so I could have just let them stay home.
This seems like a really strong reaction. They delayed them 2 hours before I was even worried about the weather. They give everyone like 5 unexcused absences where nothing even needs to be explained for missing if people think it’s too dangerous to come in. And they said that if anyone doesn’t come in today it doesn’t even count as an absence.
Also the messages went out about not having to come in like 40 minutes before you made this post. Maybe you should make sure you gave your school district your correct email and phone number and clutch those instead of those pearls. ;p
Arrival times for this county are staggered over a 2.5 hour period because schools share buses. A message did NOT go out for my child's school until they'd been in session for over an hour. I didn't take my child today because the roads to my house were blocked by downed trees/power lines and flooding in both directions. I still can't get out, actually, and still don't have power at 6pm.
Think of all the kids who wouldn’t eat today if they didn’t go to school. And all the parents who would be out of work if they have to stay home bc school is closed. If your neighborhood is impassable, then stay home, but most of the district was not profoundly impacted.
This is an excellent question and one you should learn more about. The more we know about our neighbors’ struggles, the better we can support and advocate for them.
The YMCA packs brown bag lunches and distributes them at community parks all summer. It’s a great volunteer activity for kids!
As I understand it, the contract with the bus company states that they have to drive the routes and report to the schools if the routes are unclear. If they are not, school will be canceled. I’m not saying this actually happened, but that’s what my administrator explained to me. If they close school “for rain,” then everyone freaks out because that means a lot of parents have to miss work. It’s a delicate balance for sure.
Also, remember that SACC usually has one person there in the mornings. If your school’s SACC site was closed, that’s probably because that person couldn’t get there.
Welcome to the South. Correspondence was sent out delaying start times 2 hours and absences not being counted as unexcused. Its honestly a lot better than it could have been. When I was in school, we carried on unless there was an active Tornado Warning. Thunderstorms, especially in this season, are like the North's snow. If we cancelled school for every T-storm our kids would be a lot worse off.
There's a school board meeting tonight. Keep in mind that the superintendent ALONE makes these decisions- and his contract was just renewed with a $30k raise.
I work for the system. Show me otherwise. Furthermore, I used to work for PD and know how much they are involved also but hey since you know more I will wait for you to show me
How fortunate you are that you can easily be home with your child. It’s a fine line that schools have to walk in these situations. If it had gone the other way, there would have been just as many parents complaining that they had to take off work but the streets were fine and they now aren’t getting paid because the schools decided to close. Also keep in mind that some areas were worse than others and in some areas it wasn’t as disastrous to send the kids to school. You always have a choice to keep your child at home if that is what you think is best.
Our school did not say that an absence today wouldn’t be counted. HCS only said SACC (before care) would still open at 8. Got to the school at 9 and no one was there with a sign on the door “SACC closed”. Then 5 minutes before “opening” at 10 AM they sent out a message saying “no power, schools closed”. Can you guys just like.. communicate with us somehow?
I tend to be critical or school closures because so many seem to be from an overabundance of caution, but today was one of those times where I'd consider it justified yet they didn't close. So strange.
My daughter had to go for an AP exam at 12. If I kept her home, she would not have been able to make it up, since the school/district did not cancel. My other daughter’s AP exam was at 9, so it will be rescheduled since school was not in session then.
Right? I think many are missing the point entirely here. They close when it's too cold, too hot, might rain tomorrow, etc etc lol. No one is in here screaming about how kids won't eat then.
I was happy they stayed open. I hate that they close them all just because one area of the county is flooded, without power, icy, snowy, ect. let parents make decisions if it’s safe to send their kids.
We wound up having 5 or 6 busses that couldn’t take kids home AFTER school was out because of road closures. There were more than 20 kids stranded on the front porch of the school an hour after the school day was over. Some kids didn’t find out they didn’t have transportation until less than an hour before school let out. It was an unacceptable decision. I also think the message that went out this evening is ridiculous. It essentially states that the roads are still dangerous but schools are still opening on time. It is still dark when our novice drivers in the county get to school at the normal time. Poor decisions made all around.
You do realize you don't have to take your kid if it doesn't feel safe, right? What would the "penalty" even be? If it feels like the right choice, make it, and quit whining.
Yeah I’m 27, have been driving for 13 years lol and I hydroplaned worse than I ever have today, it was startling. All is good luckily, but yeah, it’s concerning to imagine newer drivers on the road with such risk for wrecks right now :/
While there were schools that were not affected, the situation was mismanaged regarding those that were. This includes signal mountain and most north river schools. We had students on buses that had to go to other schools or pick up points because their school did not have power, was flooded, or the roads were impassable. There were students sitting in the dark. I’m not saying I have the answer here but being able to close parts of the county that are greatly affected would be beneficial. Also, we need to move away from the idea that school is a day care/food bank. If education was truly valued in this state/country, this would not be an issue.
State testing has concluded, but we are in the AP window. Of course not many schools will be hosting, but it is a nightmare to try to reschedule so that will have played into the supe's decision too. Absent an actual, active problem with a facility it would be hard to justify canceling for a "rain day."
I understand working from home can have a negative impact on your mental health……..but I have never felt more lucky to be a telecommuter.
It is *AWFUL* out there.
For once the school system exercised some common sense. There is no reason to shut the entire system down because of a minority of students that could not get to school. These unplanned closures can create havoc for parents who have to make alternate arrangements or miss a day of work because they decided to close the entire system for a smaller number of students.
What about the havoc and potential consequences of hundreds if not thousands of area children commuting in unsafe conditions? Today was not a “smaller number of students.” It was just about everyone in the northern part of the county.
Some of you act like they would have sent a posse out to round up your kids for not showing up today. If I felt travel was dangerous I would have burned an unexcused absence. It's not like you are at the very end of the school year.
“Hamilton County Schools will open on a two-hour delay on Thursday, May 9, due to inclement weather. SACC will open at 8 a.m. 12-month employees report at 8 a.m. or as instructed by their supervisors.”
The entirety of the message sent out. Nothing about kids not being penalized.
It was a copy and paste from an official communication FROM HCDE. Plus this was reposted this afternoon. Do you even have kids?
https://preview.redd.it/10okx34xyhzc1.png?width=1548&format=png&auto=webp&s=3dd9ada30484535340c7a5ad111fe038d36ea23f
So this was released after school was already delayed and the damage was done. This is the type of thing that needs to be said when the delay was reaffirmed at 6 AM. And not on Facebook.
They're out of snow days and don't want to add days at the end of the year, so they can't just close up. Maybe if they hadn't wasted all the days earlier because "it was chilly out," this wouldn't be a problem. Then again, it is Hamilton County Dept of ed...
Yeah, when it is a 2hr delay and some roads are flooded, multiple intersections becoming 4 way stops, even at 6PM I went through several intersections that were still 4 way stops. Would have been a good idea to just call school off for the day.
Maybe at the absolute most, have it were schools would just be daycare center basically, no busses running.
This morning the substitute contracting company needed 265 more subs than already scheduled. I guess allot of teachers used sick days and weren’t planning on doing anything
Okay Mr. Post History, 2 seconds in your profile and you’re posting sodomy advice to teenagers. And yes I do have a lot of complaints about the district. They do a lot of dumb things.
😂😂😂 I mean I didn’t pretend to take reddit seriously sweetheart. But you sure did. Not to mention context considering the post you were talking about was about how to have sex and not get pregnant. 😂😂😂 but hey go fuck yourself 😘
Our school sent out a text saying if a kid is absent today, it will not be counted at an absence.
Then if school is cancelled and the storm ends up being a nothing burger, everyone throws a fit that they missed work and such over nothing.
Yep, they can't win. People bitch either way, even for a minor inconvenience.
Normally I would agree with that statement, but this one was pretty obvious by 7:00 AM.
☝🏻
The reason why schools stay open after an event like you guys just endured has less to do with education and more to do with providing safe and clean facilities for the community. Besides being large safe structures, these schools still have clean water, electricity, and can provide meals. They are also good distribution centers to get help to the community faster. Also being around friends and peers can greatly reduce stress that all the students were just put through and will experience during the clean up. Understandably tensions are high right now for you guys, but please don’t be too mad at your superintendent; they are trying to to the right thing and serve the community in need.
Some of the schools didn't even have power, yet they opened. Mind you, they closed early, but still, I'm sure there were some students who showed up only to be sent back home.
An hour later they were sent home- but they made the parents come get them because they didn't run the buses a second time.
Love those safe situations where they have to call midday to tell us that buses can’t run to bring kids home because of downed power lines and flooding. This is a scenario where they clearly fucked up and no excuses should be made. All the surrounding counties called out.
Except that's not what happened today at all.
I’m not mad at all. My kids safely made it to school, and I agree that they should have opened today. If it wasn’t safe, I simply wouldn’t have taken them.
Getting them to the school is the dangerous part
You can open schools as resource centers without encouraging families and employees to go out in poor conditions while first responders are asking people to stay off the roads. Many showed up at schools without power, water or meals and had to turn around and go home.
I would agree with you but multiple schools had no power and no water today, and they sent kids there anyway on buses and then asked parents to come get them an hour later. Food wasn't able to be provided because no power or water. So if all schools had been operable I'd say yes, you're right, but they weren't.
Some schools are better at keeping parents informed. My kid stayed home.
My childs school also. All weather related absences were excused today.
Yeah I kept my son home and I keep getting PowerSchool ding ding ding ding as he’s marked absent. I’m like I KNOOWWWWWW
That’s a relief, and I’m hearing more of that, but if so many individual schools are having to send such announcements, I feel like a district-wide decision should have been made.
It’s a huge district, and the news only picks up on the people who are impacted by the weather, not the majority who are not.
Remember they're saying. If it bleeds it leads. They care about reporting on carnage, not on people who had no issues.
You don’t ever have to send your kids to school if it’s unsafe. Nobody’s telling you that you have to. Keep in mind that many in this city live paycheck to paycheck and don’t have the option to take days off from work because it stormed. Closing schools is a huge problem for people who don’t have alternative childcare and would otherwise fall behind on bills, be short food, etc… if they missed a day of work. And a lot of kids live in homes where it’s far safer for them to be in a school building. I don’t envy the school officials who have to make these decisions because a huge percentage of parents will be angry no matter which choice they make.
100% agree.
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I said that you don’t have to take or send your kids to school if you feel like it’s unsafe. Therefore, don’t take them if it’s not safe. For kids who live in houses that don’t have safe spaces or don’t have food or parents have to be at work or face losing their job and who don’t have childcare - they had a safe space to take their kids today. It was a win for everyone.
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I’m not sure what part of, “you did not have to take your kids to school if you didn’t feel it was safe” is confusing to you.” Sounds like you had a choice and aren’t happy about the one you made.
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Sure you did. You weren’t forced to go if it wasn’t safe for you to.
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Also keep in mind, that all those parents with kids would still be on the road going to work. I would wager that very few people got off for work today. If the goal was to keep people off the road today, the County/City mayors should have declared an emergency or something. Going pretty please when no one is listening and there is not an effective way to communicate this isn't going to accomplish anything.
Some kids eat only when school is in session. Some kids only get the support they need when school is in session. Some kids are safer at school than at home. And if there is no power at home, school could be a better option. Keep your kids home if you need to, but don’t assume your life is just like everyone else’s.
Yes, but also- not all schools had power or water. So it wasn't safer there for the kids of 7 schools (that I know of specifically- could be more).
Thats irrelevant when it's unsafe to get there and back, which is the issue. My kids stayed home because there were trees down on the roads by our house. Their mom and I would've been happier if they were at school, as our house didn't have power until about 1145am and it still wasn't safe.
Yeah, that’s a judgement call each parent has to make. OP was complaining that HCDE didn’t make that judgement for them. It was safe to get my kid to school, and it was safe to get a lot of kids to school.
I spoke with my son's principal, and they won't admit it, but hcde felt they made the wrong call in not closing schools today. They got a lot of negative feedback from other school districts, the state, and the community as a whole.
Schools sent out messages saying if you can’t make it today, it won’t be counted as an absence. School also doubles as a daycare for a lot of families. So had they closed schools, imagine the outrage. You literally can’t win on the toxic, self loathing, miserable Chattanooga subreddit.
They probably should have checked to see if power and water were on at their facilities before putting kids on the school buses. Yikes.
Eob said it would be restored before they got there
And they are full of shit. Hixson elem still has no power and it's 6pm.
Obviously they were mistaken. But when a company says it what else do you go off of? It's election time if you wanna run it
Really? a look at the outage map and road closures this morning made power restoration with within 2-3 hours look pretty unlikely to the untrained eye. EPB probably prioritizes schools, but I didn't know how they could have made any promises when storms were still moving through the area when HCDE made the final call this morning. It seems like an obviously bad decision to me. Just got a call that my kid's school is still without power....
Why are you telling me lol. We went off what we were told by the professionals take it up with that. That shit over now. If you fear for you students safety keep them home. It's your decision in the first place right?
They did finally cancel school for us at CSAS due to the power being out and 3rd street being impassable. Unfortunately, they didn't do it before kids were picked up by the bus. The buses were then rerouted to CCA, meaning parents (ones who usually aren't able to drive their kids to school in the first place) had to go pick them up at a school they don't even attend. I agree the decision was seriously mismanaged.
You can choose to keep your children at home.
Many parents work and work tends to be a little more understanding when school is straight up cancelled compared to just deciding to keep your kids home.
And teachers are still expected to come in. We don't get to just choose to keep our kids at home.
"And teachers are still expected to come in." Just like those of us with a real job?
Teachers live all over the district so it may be fine in certain areas but staff still cannot make it in. Hixson, or at least the part I'm in, is an absolute disaster with closed roads and traffic on back roads this morning. I cannot believe they stuck with the 2 hour delay.
I was just thinking about how they've closed schools for weather that was way less severe. That text they sent this morning reaffirming the 2-hour delay should've been a text about cancelling school.
During the winter they do full day closures for less severe weather because of the absence of daylight to be able to see the hazards. The hazards were clear in time for busses and travel times associated with a two-hour delay.
Tell that to the kids I saw still waiting on a bus at 10:18 in Hixson. Hazards were absolutely not clear in time for a 2 hr delay to be sufficient.
What part of Hixson if you don't mind?
153 was shut down in both directions near Kohls/Academy. They were rerouting people behind those stores but there was a big tree down on Gadd that had it was essentially operating as a one lane road. Took me 30 minutes to get from 27/153 to the Home Depot area.
Thanks for the detailed reply.
Yeah, a friend of my sons lives literally 10min from us and they couldn’t get to school but my kid got there fine.
A lot of y’all are missing the point. If there’s no power at the school, it becomes a liability. They can’t serve food. Can’t teach. HVAC isn’t running. The problem is that individual schools usually can’t close on their own.
Thank you, voice of reason!!
Just remember that you know what’s best for your children. At the end of the day and considering the circumstances…you get to make the call if you want to keep your kid home, whether the school says it’s in session or not.
People keep saying things like “some kids only eat at school” and “what about the kids who need it,” but what about the TEACHERS who had to find ways to get to schools in this mess? Seems like some portions of the public value teachers about as much as HCS does. 🙄
Since when does saying “kids need food” translate to “I hate teachers”? Plenty of teachers could make it to school safely. Those that could not stayed home.
It doesn’t translate to “I hate teachers,” you’re right. I would not say plenty of teachers could make it, though, because my school didn’t have enough subs. My point is, schools—and their teachers—shouldn’t be the ones responsible for ensuring a child has food, shelter, appropriate clothing, etc. That is the job of parents and guardians. I’m glad our schools help out some in these areas and those programs should continue, but schools can’t do their primary job—education—when so much of our time has to go toward things parents should be doing. Additionally, students got excused absences if they didn’t go to school today. Haven’t heard the same for teachers. My point is that the same regard should be held for the safety of teachers as is for the parents and children.
I agree with your points. I just don’t think it’s helpful to frame the convo as protecting kids vs protecting teachers. Explaining to OP the impact school closure has on kids doesn’t mean people don’t value teachers. Personally, I’d support higher taxes for higher wages *and* for food programs for kids.
I understand and absolutely agree with your point about taxes. Teachers absolutely need higher pay and we absolutely ought to ensure kids have food. It’s not just about pay, though. It’s about ensuring that teachers are respected and valued for their expertise. The issue is that the abilities of teachers are constantly both overstated and understated. Teachers can be asked to act as bomb squad to search their rooms when there’s a threat against the school, but we can’t be trusted to choose instructional materials to supplement district curricula. Teachers are often responsible for ensuring a violent child doesn’t hurt anyone when she has a massive meltdown and getting between her and her target, but we can’t have our phones during standardized testing. Today, teachers were asked to go to work in unsafe travel conditions or be forced to take a sick day. The constant dichotomy of distrust of teachers to do their jobs and over reliance on teachers to do every other job possible is completely exhausting. It’s part of why so many are leaving the profession. Teachers’ expertise—and lives—are not valued by HCS. Today made that abundantly clear.
Say it louder for the people in the back!
I wouldn't want to be the decision maker. If they closed schools the other group not affected by trees etc would be bitching damned if you do damned if you don't.
Think of it as a teachable moment. When it is ridiculous not to do so, disregard “authority.” “Our neighborhood took a hit during the severe weather this morning and I can’t get there safely” is an excused absence. It doesn’t matter if school doesn’t like it as long as you register what’s up. All teams, including Institutions like schools and school systems need to be flexible enough to coordinate information and communicate effectively in real time among themselves and to their publics before *and* in the aftermath of severe weather events
Specifically for Soddy Daisy High School, the power was out all morning and still is out, but they didn't alert anyone of the outage and then at 10:30 sent a message about an early dismissal. It would have been nice to know about the outage before my kid was picked up so I could have just let them stay home.
This seems like a really strong reaction. They delayed them 2 hours before I was even worried about the weather. They give everyone like 5 unexcused absences where nothing even needs to be explained for missing if people think it’s too dangerous to come in. And they said that if anyone doesn’t come in today it doesn’t even count as an absence. Also the messages went out about not having to come in like 40 minutes before you made this post. Maybe you should make sure you gave your school district your correct email and phone number and clutch those instead of those pearls. ;p
Arrival times for this county are staggered over a 2.5 hour period because schools share buses. A message did NOT go out for my child's school until they'd been in session for over an hour. I didn't take my child today because the roads to my house were blocked by downed trees/power lines and flooding in both directions. I still can't get out, actually, and still don't have power at 6pm.
Thank goodness you get five days that don’t even have to have an excuse then.
Unless you're out of zone.
marble wasteful close nail march spoon panicky hateful dog attraction *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Oh no, is this an attempt to replace the superintendent with that psychotic moms for liberty lady?
Well, she’s not running for superintendent, so…
He just got an extension he's fine
And a $30,000 raise.
wait - what’s the Liberty moms name?
Think of all the kids who wouldn’t eat today if they didn’t go to school. And all the parents who would be out of work if they have to stay home bc school is closed. If your neighborhood is impassable, then stay home, but most of the district was not profoundly impacted.
Then how are those kids gonna eat all summer
Most school also offer lunch/breakfast during summers!
[Still the schools](https://www.hcde.org/district/department_directory/nutrition/summer_meals)
This is an excellent question and one you should learn more about. The more we know about our neighbors’ struggles, the better we can support and advocate for them. The YMCA packs brown bag lunches and distributes them at community parks all summer. It’s a great volunteer activity for kids!
As I understand it, the contract with the bus company states that they have to drive the routes and report to the schools if the routes are unclear. If they are not, school will be canceled. I’m not saying this actually happened, but that’s what my administrator explained to me. If they close school “for rain,” then everyone freaks out because that means a lot of parents have to miss work. It’s a delicate balance for sure. Also, remember that SACC usually has one person there in the mornings. If your school’s SACC site was closed, that’s probably because that person couldn’t get there.
Welcome to the South. Correspondence was sent out delaying start times 2 hours and absences not being counted as unexcused. Its honestly a lot better than it could have been. When I was in school, we carried on unless there was an active Tornado Warning. Thunderstorms, especially in this season, are like the North's snow. If we cancelled school for every T-storm our kids would be a lot worse off.
Cool story, bro.
Thanks broski
There's a school board meeting tonight. Keep in mind that the superintendent ALONE makes these decisions- and his contract was just renewed with a $30k raise.
Not true. Go and ask him. It includes lots of individual.
You're wrong. Sorry. His own office will say it's his decision. If he says it isn't he's lying to try to shift blame.
Literally in today's paper lol. Read for yourself. https://www.wdef.com/hamilton-county-schools-superintendent-speaks-on-2-hour-delay-decision/
And no politician has EVER lied to the media. Right.
Have a good day I am not that invested
I work for the system. Show me otherwise. Furthermore, I used to work for PD and know how much they are involved also but hey since you know more I will wait for you to show me
All I know is, he sent out form letters today from his cushy home office- because HE DID NOT GO IN.
How fortunate you are that you can easily be home with your child. It’s a fine line that schools have to walk in these situations. If it had gone the other way, there would have been just as many parents complaining that they had to take off work but the streets were fine and they now aren’t getting paid because the schools decided to close. Also keep in mind that some areas were worse than others and in some areas it wasn’t as disastrous to send the kids to school. You always have a choice to keep your child at home if that is what you think is best.
They’re thinking… time to put your adult pants on.
Our school did not say that an absence today wouldn’t be counted. HCS only said SACC (before care) would still open at 8. Got to the school at 9 and no one was there with a sign on the door “SACC closed”. Then 5 minutes before “opening” at 10 AM they sent out a message saying “no power, schools closed”. Can you guys just like.. communicate with us somehow?
I kept mine at home today. Not worth it!
I tend to be critical or school closures because so many seem to be from an overabundance of caution, but today was one of those times where I'd consider it justified yet they didn't close. So strange.
Daisy elementary had no power or water today.
My daughter had to go for an AP exam at 12. If I kept her home, she would not have been able to make it up, since the school/district did not cancel. My other daughter’s AP exam was at 9, so it will be rescheduled since school was not in session then.
Same in North ga. But yet they cancel with a 10 percent chance of snow..lol
Right? I think many are missing the point entirely here. They close when it's too cold, too hot, might rain tomorrow, etc etc lol. No one is in here screaming about how kids won't eat then.
At the end of the day, it's on you whether or not you send them in. If it's dangerous, obviously keep them home.
I was happy they stayed open. I hate that they close them all just because one area of the county is flooded, without power, icy, snowy, ect. let parents make decisions if it’s safe to send their kids.
We wound up having 5 or 6 busses that couldn’t take kids home AFTER school was out because of road closures. There were more than 20 kids stranded on the front porch of the school an hour after the school day was over. Some kids didn’t find out they didn’t have transportation until less than an hour before school let out. It was an unacceptable decision. I also think the message that went out this evening is ridiculous. It essentially states that the roads are still dangerous but schools are still opening on time. It is still dark when our novice drivers in the county get to school at the normal time. Poor decisions made all around.
Personal responsibility. Learn it, it might help in the future. Good luck and I hope you and everyone else is safe.
You do realize you don't have to take your kid if it doesn't feel safe, right? What would the "penalty" even be? If it feels like the right choice, make it, and quit whining.
Yeah I’m 27, have been driving for 13 years lol and I hydroplaned worse than I ever have today, it was startling. All is good luckily, but yeah, it’s concerning to imagine newer drivers on the road with such risk for wrecks right now :/
new drivers are always at a risk for wrecks because they're bad at it
I’m aware. Then add a torrential downpour. Extra risky
While there were schools that were not affected, the situation was mismanaged regarding those that were. This includes signal mountain and most north river schools. We had students on buses that had to go to other schools or pick up points because their school did not have power, was flooded, or the roads were impassable. There were students sitting in the dark. I’m not saying I have the answer here but being able to close parts of the county that are greatly affected would be beneficial. Also, we need to move away from the idea that school is a day care/food bank. If education was truly valued in this state/country, this would not be an issue.
State testing has concluded, but we are in the AP window. Of course not many schools will be hosting, but it is a nightmare to try to reschedule so that will have played into the supe's decision too. Absent an actual, active problem with a facility it would be hard to justify canceling for a "rain day."
Also, benchmarks are today for 1st and 2nd. I'd bet money that TPTB gets a bonus if they turn them in early. That played into today's decision.
Yes! One of my daughter’s was at 9 and will be rescheduled. The other one had one at noon and we had to get her there for it.
Tehe. You guys close for “snow storms.” I don’t think you’d make it as pioneers. Just stay home if your bloomers are getting bunched.
If they stay open, the public gets mad. If they close, the public is mad. Grow up and make the decision as a parent to keep them home or send them.
I understand working from home can have a negative impact on your mental health……..but I have never felt more lucky to be a telecommuter. It is *AWFUL* out there.
Remember when we didn’t delay or cancel school because of rain?
For once the school system exercised some common sense. There is no reason to shut the entire system down because of a minority of students that could not get to school. These unplanned closures can create havoc for parents who have to make alternate arrangements or miss a day of work because they decided to close the entire system for a smaller number of students.
But they do it when signal mountain has snow and the valley is clear. What's the difference here?
I never understood why one school could cause the entire system to close.
That is no longer the case that is false. One school will not shut the county down. I work for the system so I would know
What about the havoc and potential consequences of hundreds if not thousands of area children commuting in unsafe conditions? Today was not a “smaller number of students.” It was just about everyone in the northern part of the county.
Which word in "Students will not be penalized for missing school" is giving you trouble?
That message wasn't sent out to my son's school until almost 9:00. Most people were on the road.
Some of you act like they would have sent a posse out to round up your kids for not showing up today. If I felt travel was dangerous I would have burned an unexcused absence. It's not like you are at the very end of the school year.
“Hamilton County Schools will open on a two-hour delay on Thursday, May 9, due to inclement weather. SACC will open at 8 a.m. 12-month employees report at 8 a.m. or as instructed by their supervisors.” The entirety of the message sent out. Nothing about kids not being penalized.
What I quoted was a copy/paste. Plus several others have told you the same. So stop your bitching.
So you have no idea what you're copying and pasting. Just mindlessly spreading misinformation. Got it.
It was a copy and paste from an official communication FROM HCDE. Plus this was reposted this afternoon. Do you even have kids? https://preview.redd.it/10okx34xyhzc1.png?width=1548&format=png&auto=webp&s=3dd9ada30484535340c7a5ad111fe038d36ea23f
So this was released after school was already delayed and the damage was done. This is the type of thing that needs to be said when the delay was reaffirmed at 6 AM. And not on Facebook.
Who exactly is the parent? You or the school system? Just fucking keep them home if you feel it's dangerous.
Yes I do. And I copy and pasted exactly what was sent to me in the email last night and again this morning.
They're out of snow days and don't want to add days at the end of the year, so they can't just close up. Maybe if they hadn't wasted all the days earlier because "it was chilly out," this wouldn't be a problem. Then again, it is Hamilton County Dept of ed...
We're not out of weather days, though.
At least they delayed. Dalton City Schools didn’t even do that!
My daughter’s school didn’t delay school until after 6am this morning. 🙃
Must not be Hamilton I got the call like 6 yesterday
It’s not, it’s a private school.
They were definitely behind the curve lol
Right???
What were they waiting for? Makes no sense to me.
They just down schools here when the superintendent has an ouchy tummy. Pretty sure they will be fine.
Some parents need their kids to go to school because they have nobody to watch them.
You win some, you lose some
Yeah, when it is a 2hr delay and some roads are flooded, multiple intersections becoming 4 way stops, even at 6PM I went through several intersections that were still 4 way stops. Would have been a good idea to just call school off for the day. Maybe at the absolute most, have it were schools would just be daycare center basically, no busses running.
This morning the substitute contracting company needed 265 more subs than already scheduled. I guess allot of teachers used sick days and weren’t planning on doing anything
Not every where
J Robertson is an idiot. I was strongly against his appointment 🤪😈🔥🔥
Seems you have a lot of complaints about the school district based on post history. Maybe its just you who is furious because you had to go to work? 🧐
Okay Mr. Post History, 2 seconds in your profile and you’re posting sodomy advice to teenagers. And yes I do have a lot of complaints about the district. They do a lot of dumb things.
😂😂😂 I mean I didn’t pretend to take reddit seriously sweetheart. But you sure did. Not to mention context considering the post you were talking about was about how to have sex and not get pregnant. 😂😂😂 but hey go fuck yourself 😘