The doldrums of winter bring with them little satisfaction for students. The days are short, the weather is bleak and the third quarter of the school year has the fewest days off.
However, retribution often comes in the form of precious delays and cancellations due to weather conditions. Students celebrate these delays and cancellations while parents often react with dismay; after all, the sudden switch in schedule can be disruptive as parents must scramble to find someone to look after their children while they work.
While the administration attempts to contact parents earlier with information regarding school changes, this does not alleviate them from the larger issue: the lack of transparency in clarifying its decisions. Ultimately, delays and cancellations happen for the safety of students, but the administration lacks consistency in its decisions, which is troubling. There seems to be no template or administrative explanation for which conditions cause a delay compared to a cancellation; sometimes icy road conditions cause delays and other times they cause cancellations.
This brings multiple problems to surface. First and foremost, it raises questions of just how prevalent the issue of safety is when determining cancellations. The lack of transparency and consistency makes parents and students alike wonder if cancellations are a product of convenience rather than safety. Furthermore, the unpredictability of cancellations is a strain on parents, who are forced to scramble schedules and shift plans. Since there is no template for cancellations, everyone must guess at what the administration will decide. This leaves parents and students at the mercy of an undisclosed decision making process.
Ultimately, it becomes necessary for there to be an established system which determines cancellations that is available to the general public. This will serve to justify decision making, ensure the safety of students and allow for earlier adjustment of parent schedules due to cancellations. Parents and students would find such a system to be exceedingly beneficial and comforting, as they would have a better understanding of the decision-making process. This is not to say there is a mistrust of the administration’s choices, but rather a lack of accountability. If the administration wishes to ask students to risk their safety and parents to rearrange schedules, then they must also hold themselves responsible for their choices.
This can be accomplished through a comprehensive template that would explain under which circumstances there should be a two-hour delay, a cancellation of school or no delay. Therefore, parents will be more aware of the possibility of delays or cancellations. Granted, we understand that weather is unpredictable and situations can change quickly — no set of guidelines can anticipate all eventualities — , but a more concrete plan would help to alleviate some of the confusion and apprehension when delays or cancellations may occur. This system would allow the administration to have an explanation for its decisions and allow parents and students to better prepare for possible cancellations. Transparency eases the burden of cancellation on the administration and parents, while maintaining the safety of students.