High Risk Days: Should Schools Be Closed

[HAltschule]

With the Enterprise, AL tragedy fresh in our minds, a few thoughts came across my mind. Since part of the issue at hand was early dismissal, which may have been cancelled or maybe not considered at all (heresay so far), I was wondering the following:

On High Risk days such as this, would it be wise for school districts to cancel school and let kids stay at home, with the availability of tornado shelters and importantly, away from schoolbuses that could be hit by tornadoes on their way home from school?

I am starting to think that that may be something important to consider.

 

[Joel Wright]

Sort of a hard question there. Many kids would be in worse trouble if they were at home due to lack of adequate shelter in their own homes.

Of course this wouldn't be the case for all kids. I think if a school has a good disaster plan, they should be a fairly safe place to be in a tornado.

Maybe they should make the decision up the school itself. Some schools are built better than others, with better protection. The schools that don't have as good of protection can elect to let kids out early, whereas the better built schools may be more apt to keep them right where they are.

 

[Grady Joslin]

I voted for Early Dismissal for this reason and reason only.

I really feel it should be left up to the parent. Saying that, they should discuss with their children before storm season starts. Come up with a plan on what they should do. Then therefore if the parent feels the need to evacuate them before the tornado hits a few counties before them, or even if a watch is issue, that they should have the option of leaving. So if their parent doesn't feel their child safety is adqueat, then they shouldn't have to let the school determine their safety.

So in a nutshell it really should be up to the parent. If they feel really strong that something like this will happen, they should have the choice to remove their kid from school that day or take them out before the storm hits.

 

[Michael O'Keeffe]

I would have to agree with Joel on that one.

Of course being a middle school student. I wouldn't mind it one bit!
Then I could be out chasing instead of looking out the window of my classroom saying I wish I was chasing.

 

[rdale]

Canceling schools leaves kids home alone. Busing is not a concern since schools don't let out during a warning. Early dismissal leads to kids home alone. High Risk VERY rarely equals school hit by tornado.

 

[Jordan Hartley]

I had a conversation with a family member early this evening about this very thing. They do close school for winter storms. Here in Wichta, they close if were expecting 8"+. High risk days are very rare, rare enough that if a school district decided to cancel school for a day because that district is in a high risk for severe thunderstorms than that 1 day is not going to screw up that districts schedule.

 

[rdale]

Odds of a winter storm making driving dangerous are MUCH MUCH MUCH higher than a high risk day leading to any harm whatsoever...

 

[Grady Joslin]

Jordan, sad thing about that, is that for school districts is that they get an x amount of dollars per student that attends. So obivously, they're not up for letting anyone go for a day. If they get $100 per student and their a 1000 students, your talking about a lot of money.

But yet I don't understand how greed can outway someone's life, but sadly it does. I think most likely it'll be up to people who chase storms who have kids to do something to help change school policies to further protect their kids.

I remeber time right before a tornado would hit close to when I was in school, mom would meet us at school and take us out and go home. Thankfully school was never hit. But I was glad that the decision of my safety was left up to my mom.

Its just going to take people pushing for schools to do better. =\ I wish I had a better answer.

 

[Charles Kuster]

This is a complicated issue, but I voted yes. On one hand canceling school would eliminate buses running at potentially dangerous times (3-4pm) during the day. This would also prevent hundreds or even thousands of students being gathered in a single location. It is rare for a school to get hit, but if one does the outcome could be very devastating such as what happened today.

On the other hand, kids would be home alone all day and some may be in buildings that are far less sturdy than a school. Luckily events such as today don't happen often. My prayers and thoughts are with the families of those affected by this tornado.

 

[Chris C Sanner]

I voted no. School Administration should be educated in severe weather like they are here in Velma and know what's going on for sure. However, how many school districts were not hit today that were in the high risk? I'd say school administrators should be well aware and be ready to take action in plenty of time to save lives. It's a complicated issue for sure, but I think getting the leaders of schools in tornado prone areas educated about severe weather would be an important first step in either direction.

 

[Jordan Hartley]

Sry Rdale if a school district cancelled school because of a high risk for svr weather the only way one would find out school was closed would be TV/Radio(Media). If the media explained to the public the danger that their area was in, dangerous enough to cancel school for the day, perhaps one might pay more attention to the severity of the situation. Tor Watches do not have the desired affect to warn the public that we all would like. Your everyday joe doesnt understand the weather and how it works... hell I really dont know anything except commen sense things myself, but I do know that most people do not take tor watches seriously. I can promise u rdale that if a school district cancelled school because it was in an area of a high risk for svr weather I know people would take the situation alot more seriously.

 

[Michael O'Keeffe]

Growing up in Wichita. I've expierenced this all before. The heading to the bathrooms as a tornado is heading stright for the school and it's a very dramatic expierence for kids.

Especially here in Tornado Alley where kids understand this situation better, it can make them even more scared and kids start to panic and get out of control.

I think it is something to consider, but it can go either way.

 

[rdale]

"I can promise u rdale that if a school district cancelled school because it was in an area of a high risk for svr weather I know people would take the situation alot more seriously."

Are you kidding me? The exact opposite would occur... 99.9999999999% of all students will be alive after a high risk, with 80% not even getting a storm, let alone a severe storm... You can't imagine the outrage that will come the next day in papers and on the TV news from parents wondering why they had no school for a rain shower.

"Jordan, sad thing about that, is that for school districts is that they get an x amount of dollars per student that attends. So obivously, they're not up for letting anyone go for a day. If they get $100 per student and their a 1000 students, your talking about a lot of money."

That is WAY wrong. There are one or two "count days" per school year, and they use attendance from those two days to determine how much money is sent.

 

[Jordan Hartley]

How could cancelling school actually place a child in more danger? Wouldnt the "Schools cancelled because were going to have tornadoes today" send off warnings bells in a parents head. Wouldnt that cause a parent to take extra steps to insure the saftey of their child???

 

[rdale]

What extra steps can be taken? They'll be home alone watching Cartoon Network while the parents are at work...

And again when you tell people we're getting tornadoes, and we get NOTHING, that leads to problems. Look at today - how many people were saying "big outbreak" even this morning, yet it looks like 15-20 tornadoes max. Not quite what a High Risk should have.