Did I overreact?

[Mickey'snewestfan]

I'm a teacher at a charter school, DS (almost 9) attends a different charter school not too far away. Both charter schools are on urban streets where there's no parking, plus right now there's construction on the road where DS's school is located so without going probably 10 blocks out of the way (think urban rush hour blocks, that can take 1/2 an hour -- I'm not exaggerating) there's no way I can pull up to the side of the school to let him out. Given that their start time and our start time are only 15 minutes apart, that would be impossible to do.

So, every day I let him out of the car across the street. Because there's also a public school across the street from his school there's a crossing guard at the corner. He crosses, I watch him cross most of the way and then I go. I can't see him once he gets most of the way across, but the staff member holding the door open can see him, so he's never out of eyeshot from me.

Today we had snow, a little snow but not much. The public schools decided not to close or delay opening, which is fine by me (I'd rather stay home, but it was fine), his school's snow policy says "we usually close when the public schools close, although occaisionally if it's something that effects just a few schools (e.g. watermain break) we may make a different decision. We will not question the public schools decision to close while snow is falling". Since snow was falling, I assumed that school was open for him, as it was for me, so I took him to school, dropped him off and went to work.

2 hours later another teacher said to me "it's so unfair that we had to come in on time when X school (DS's school) had a 2 hour delay. Needless to say I panicked. I rushed to the phone and called the school, they said he was fine, that they'd had lots of kids dropped off so they let them in, and that I should have called the school before I sent him. I mentioned that the policy says that they won't question the decision when snow is falling and they said it said that they won't question the decision to close, but that they can question the decision to open. I asked to speak to the principal and told them that I thought the policy needed to be either they closed with the public schools or they didn't and announced somewhere every time -- they said they couldn't do that.

Of course I'm glad that they let him in, but I feel awful for him, and for a few minutes there I was scared out of my mind. Am I right to be upset (I spoke to the principal himself and told him I thought the policy needed to be clearer)? Am I overreacting?

 

[LadyShea]

I don't think you overreacted at all. How are you suppose to know what their decision might or might not be unless they have A) a specific policy tied to the PS or B) direct notification via phone tree/email/text message or news announcement? Do they expect you to call the school every day to find out if they are opening?

 

[daisyduck123]

No, I don't think you're overreacting. DS's school should just make it an "across the board policy" one way or the other. When I went to private school (back in the early '80s), that's what my school did. If the county schools were closed, we were closed.

 

[SharpMomOfTwo]

Sorry, no flames here at all, but if it were me, even though I knew the policy, I would have called just to make sure. I mean, were talking about a 10 second phone call that couldn't have saved a lot of panic time and principal talking to time. You said yourself - his school's snow policy says "we usually close when the public schools close, although occaisionally if it's something that effects just a few schools (e.g. watermain break) we may make a different decision. We will not question the public schools decision to close while snow is falling". Usually does not mean 100% of the time, and to me, I just think thats worth a phone call to double check. You are a working mom, and you have a lot on your plate I'm sure, so sometimes we just go with what is routine rather than questioning it because we just don't have time - nothing happened to your DS, so don't commit yourself over this! Just make sure to check for next time...

 

[JeremyGNJ]

should get him a cell phone....even if just a prepaid one.

 

[Aliceacc]

Our local schools notify students via either the local TV or radio stations. (The schools where my husband and I teach also post it on our websites.)

Are you saying there was no way to determine whether school was in session other than to park your car, accompany your son, and ask??

And this line:" it said that they won't question the decision to close, but that they can question the decision to open. " is total nonsense!!

How completely ridiculous!! If you live in a part of the country where snow days are a real possibility, they need a concrete way of notifying parents of what's going on.

 

[mnasmom3]

They can't announce anywhere? As in they can't add their name to the list of tv news broadcasts, radio broadcasts, internet sites? I'm not sure I buy that. (or am I misunderstanding?) All the time here I see places that aren't public schools on our closing list. Private/charter/colleges/day cares. They need a way to notify parents and tv/radio/internet is a great way to do that. I think it's absurd that they don't. Do they have their own web site? It could even be posted there. If they are going to follow another districts closings, then they need to do it every time, including delays, or they open themselves up for just what happened to you. Yes, I'd be mad about this.

 

[npmommie]

They can't announce anywhere? As in they can't add their name to the list of tv news broadcasts, radio broadcasts, internet sites? I'm not sure I buy that. (or am I misunderstanding?) All the time here I see places that aren't public schools on our closing list. Private/charter/colleges/day cares. They need a way to notify parents and tv/radio/internet is a great way to do that. I think it's absurd that they don't. Do they have their own web site? It could even be posted there. If they are going to follow another districts closings, then they need to do it every time, including delays, or they open themselves up for just what happened to you. Yes, I'd be mad about this.

I was wondering this too. all the schools around here are listed on the news bulletins of closures. Yes I would be upset.

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

To clarify: They don't answer the phone until 8:15, which is the same time they open the doors and I need to drop off to get to my school by 8:30. Now, supposedly it was on their voicemail this time, but it hasn't been in the past. The first 2 years he was there (and I had a different job) I called every time, it was NEVER announced. The (old) principal told me that's because we were just supposed to listen for the district's decision.

Yes, they did announce on the radio, but I live in an area with literally hundreds of schools that anounce. Since they don't usually announce, if you're listening it's hard to tell if you missed it, if they didn't announce or what's up. The TV annouces better, but we live in a building with no reception unless you have cable -- seems silly to pay $100's of dollars a year to hear about school closings.

They forgot to put it on the website. In the past they sent out an email when what they've done is different (e.g. once they closed on a day that the public schools were already closed for a staff development day, and once it was a watermain break and the public schools obviously were open). They didn't do that yesterday.

The principal emailed me today and I emailed back that as of Monday DS would be taking his cellphone to school, even though it's against the rules.

 

[CampbellScot]

The school needs to have an announcement system. The current "system" seems pretty vague...and a little unsafe for the just the situation you found yourself in!!

You didn't over react at all! I'll bet you were pretty scared though for a few minutes!!

Clearly you weren't the only parent who made the same assumption, so don't feel too badly!!

 

[barkley]

the private school my children attend does not base their decision to close or delay for snow on the basis of the public school's largly because in many if not most cases the publics (at least around here) often base that decision because they have school busses to consider. while a private driver can safely drive in some snow conditions, school busses cannot or will experience major delays. this school year (and given, we've had record snowfall for the area so far) the publics have delayed start dozens of times and closed on several occasions while our private (no bus service) has delayed once and closed only twice).

the only problem i have with a school solely relying on using tv or the internet is the issue we have had with some of our recent snowfalls-no power OR if a person has satellite service for their tv/internet intermmittant/total loss of service (we currently have a ladder and a broom in the living room so dh can climb up to sweep off the sattelite dish to retain service at times).

that said our school's policy is if it snows over x amount of inches overnight it's an automatic 2 hour delay. if school will be closed they do a phone tree (each teacher calls each of their student's parents) as early as possible but no later than 30 minutes prior to the start of school. i'm not thrilled with this policy and will be writing to our board in the next month or so to see if we can get a revision for next year (figure we better get it decided before the handbooks get printed up). dh and i along with at least 50% of the other families on the BEST days leave home 40 minutes prior to school starting (very rural area), we have one family that lives in an adjoining state and leaves an hour before. on very snowy days or those where we've had snow in previous days and the roads are bad we double our travel time. i think the board needs to take this into consideration and notify parents no later than 90 minutes, idealy 2 hours prior to the start of school. i have to believe that since they are an independant school and don't have to go through a major decision making process that they can do this with few problems. it will prevent parents from getting out on the road only to have to turn around mid trip when their cell rings, and for those that will need childcare an opportunity to secure it within reason.

if it were me in the op's situation, rather than giving my child a cell phone which is apparantly forbidden by the school, and, places the burden on a young child to determine the status of the situation i would work with the school to refine the policy (i just would'nt be comfortable leaving my child off if there was any question that no adult supervision was around-and at our school delays extend to staff, so if i dropped off and there was a delay my child would be left, alone ).

 

[DVCLiz]

Just wanted to let people know about a new service our TV station is offering. You can sign up and they will send a text message to your cell phone about a specific school - I think you can list up to 4. I have my daughter's current school as well as the one she will attend next year.

Our school (private) often goes or has a delay on the days the public schools are closed. Mostly, it's the same reason a previous poster mentioned - bus transportation. They do announce on TV, and we have a call system as well - the Head of School calls and the call comes to whatever number you've specified - home and/or cell. So we do get notified in lots of ways.

It doesn't seem all that hard to put something in place - wonder why your school is being so hard-headed about it??

 

[danx2plus3more]

Yes, they did announce on the radio, but I live in an area with literally hundreds of schools that anounce. Since they don't usually announce, if you're listening it's hard to tell if you missed it, if they didn't announce or what's up. The TV annouces better, but we live in a building with no reception unless you have cable -- seems silly to pay $100's of dollars a year to hear about school closings.



wow i think the first line sums it up for me...im glad your son is ok

 

[all4fun]

Do they have a website you can check, even a simple one? They could have a school closure page and put it on there. My ds school also has a phone number we can call where they put an automated message on it, so there's more than one way to find out. You might put it in their suggestion box, since they said that numerous children were dropped off, it sounds like you weren't the only parent confused by their policy.

hth

 

[southtexasmom]

I would have reacted the same way you did. The school needs a definate plan for bad weather days and a way to communicate with parents. Our school district uses an "All Call" system, someone records a message then the system calls a phone number for every student in our district to relay the information to parents.

Thank God someone was there to let your son in.

 

[Mkrop]

Well back in the day the only way we got our notification was by radio and yes we had to listen for numbers, I will never forget" 454, 459 closed". They were the numbers I always listen for. The first one was our public school number which meant no buses, and 459 was that my HS actually closed but since it was a Catholic HS with tons of buses feeding into everyday it rarely closed. But I dont know why listening to the radio is any big deal.

DS10's school(Catholic) does whatever the public school does so if they close so do we. We have multiple sources, Prinicpal posts on the website, TV stations, you can go to the Tv station website or the radio station website, or now you can get a text to your phone. It seems like this would be easy for them to do. I prefer the computer bc I can just scroll down to our name and crawl back to bed vs watching TV or something.

 

[Melissa_E]

Our local schools notify students via either the local TV or radio stations. (The schools where my husband and I teach also post it on our websites.)

Are you saying there was no way to determine whether school was in session other than to park your car, accompany your son, and ask??

And this line:" it said that they won't question the decision to close, but that they can question the decision to open. " is total nonsense!!

How completely ridiculous!! If you live in a part of the country where snow days are a real possibility, they need a concrete way of notifying parents of what's going on.

I absolutely agree. How are you supposed to know? Is every parent supposed to call the school on a morning like this? Was there a radio/TV/internet announcement that you could have looked up? I probably would have checked for that, although you probably did since you noted that the city/county school was open ontime.

I think your son's school was in the wrong and you are not over-reacting! they need to get the word out, other than ESP.

 

[allison443]

To clarify: They don't answer the phone until 8:15, which is the same time they open the doors and I need to drop off to get to my school by 8:30. Now, supposedly it was on their voicemail this time, but it hasn't been in the past. The first 2 years he was there (and I had a different job) I called every time, it was NEVER announced. The (old) principal told me that's because we were just supposed to listen for the district's decision.

Yes, they did announce on the radio, but I live in an area with literally hundreds of schools that anounce. Since they don't usually announce, if you're listening it's hard to tell if you missed it, if they didn't announce or what's up. The TV annouces better, but we live in a building with no reception unless you have cable -- seems silly to pay $100's of dollars a year to hear about school closings.

They forgot to put it on the website. In the past they sent out an email when what they've done is different (e.g. once they closed on a day that the public schools were already closed for a staff development day, and once it was a watermain break and the public schools obviously were open). They didn't do that yesterday.

The principal emailed me today and I emailed back that as of Monday DS would be taking his cellphone to school, even though it's against the rules.

It sounds like the school needs a better system! Next time I would call the school since you said they did put it on their voicemail. Then check the website (I think you said they forgot this time, but you didn't check it, because you assumed he had school). Around here (NYC/NJ area) the radio stations all have a list of announced school closings on their website (I agree it's difficult to listen to the whole list without missing something). So maybe check out the radio station website?
Our school is implementing some kind of calling service which will make an automated call to each home. They eliminated the room parent phone chain for school closings this year. I think it will make you feel better if your son has the phone with him.
I'm glad he was okay!

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

But I dont know why listening to the radio is any big deal..

Listening to the radio isn't a big deal, I listen for my school and it goes fine. The issue is that there doesn't seem to be any kind of logical sequence to the radio, and since they only announce once in a blue moon. So, if I've been listening for a half an hour and I haven't heard anything yet I don't know if 1) They didn't announce because they're open (they don't announce if they're open) 2) They didn't announce because they're doing the same thing as the Public schools (which in this case was being open) or 3) They did announce, but it was during the 2 minutes when DS woke up and asked me a question or the fire engine went by or some such thing and I missed it.

To be honest, though, in this case I heard the public school announcement within about 30 seconds of turning the radio on (dumb luck) so I turned it off, not even thinking that they'd announce since in 2 1/2 years they've never closed when PS was open.