Traditional schools have a difficult time with threatening weather. As complex bureaucracies with large workforces and administrators who take responsibility for the lives of others, traditional schools must make decisions about tomorrow’s snow and ice as as early as possible.
It’s a no-win situation. If school is cancelled and the weather turns warmer, students are thrilled to but some parents are angry. Many teachers are delighted to be away from the daily grind. All grumble when a make-up session is scheduled during the next holiday.
If school isn’t cancelled, and even one teacher, employee or family is involved in a wreck, school officials are criticized for not being more cautious. The skills of the least experienced driver or the trek of the most distant family set a cautious bar for everyone.
To make matters worse, there’s great pressure to keep traditional schools open because every lesson in a factory-like curriculum must be delivered in sequence to prepared for the next standardized test.
These conflicting pressures are why you see traditional schools closed at the slightest hint of frost one week, and then kept open in dangerous conditions the next, as educrats are whipsawed by public opinion.
We’re blessed at Acton Academy that we don’t have these problems. When bad weather threatens, we trust our families to make the decision that’s right for them. Likewise, parents know we’re more likely to be open when other schools are shuttered, because Guides and students love to be at Acton Academy.
Families who need certainty can just assume the worst and plan to stay home. With self paced, web enabled lessons and students who are far ahead in their learning, Eagles easily can learn a lot at home (or even take a month off to travel to an exciting place.)
Families who have the flexibility can wait and judge the weather themselves, confident than one of our Guides will be at school, unless conditions are too treacherous for all.
It makes a big difference when parents know that Eagles and Guides want to be at school, because it’s more fun than staying home. And that we can each trust each other to make the right decisions, instead of relying on a school bureaucrat to make our decisions for us.