The day I wrote about the weather.

I always thought that when you didn't have much to say, a safe topic to talk about is the weather.

Can you believe this heat?

How about that storm last night?

I heard that it's going to be a cold one tomorrow!

It appears that I was wrong.

Here's the situation.  If the weather becomes unseasonably, dangerously cold in your area and schools close...apparently it becomes a MAJOR debate.

I posted this on my facebook page last night after seeing many comments on school district posts that were upsetting to me, both as a parent and a teacher:

Seriously biting my tongue on facebook tonight but I thought I could vent over here.

I live in Delaware and we are getting the coldest temps we have had in decades tomorrow. So most schools have closed. Parents are complaining about it and saying that the districts are "insane" and people are "sissies". Well, I'm about to flip the freak out.

School administrators make the call. Those same administrators will still be at work tomorrow...cold and ice and all. They are not insane. They are putting the safety of the students first.

I am a teacher. Will I be off tomorrow? I'm not sure yet. But if people think that teachers are so lazy that they NEVER want to work, then that is sad. Yes we like a day off here and there. I know almost every teacher that I know is/would be shocked to be off tomorrow. But WE don't make the call. WE go to work or not...either way is no biggie to me. But I do bus duty EVERY morning. I stand outside for 15-20 minutes in the cold or rain or whatever. Yes, I have gloves and a scarves and a jacket (like smart asses like to point out) but it is still cold and I stand there and welcome kids to school with a smile each morning.

We have kids at my school that get bused in from ALL over northern Delaware. They wait outside for the bus...and some ride over 20 minutes in a cold, barely heated bus to school. Some kids have to walk to school. Those are the kids that are being protected when the schools close. Classrooms were cold today... I am sure they would be way worse tomorrow.

Decisions are made based on the safety of the kids. Period.

Educators aren't lazy people that close down school for "insane" or "ridiculous" reasons. I am very sorry if you are inconvenienced. I get that. But such is life. It's a big fat INCONVENIENCE sometimes.

And sometimes it's a surprise day off.

The response to this post was OVERWHELMING.  At this time, over 72,700 people have seen the post, 315 people have shared it, and there are 1977 likes and 338 comments.  That is a big deal for little old me.  

After reading ALL of the responses, I have come to the following conclusions:

You can't please everyone.

And....well....yep, I think that is about it.

Everyone has an opinion.  Some people are open to hear the opinions of other, some are not.  Some want to state their opinion in an a**hole-ish way.  Some are rather polite and mature.

Bottom line is:  parents and teachers want what is best for kids.  Maybe we don't agree on what is best at that moment.  But hopefully we are all doing our best.

And fingers crossed that this ONE very cold day off in the winter of 2014 won't raise a generation of sissies (as this seems to be an odd concern of many).  Just tell those kids to MAN UP and get out in the cold...especially those little 5 year olds that would be waiting for a bus this morning.  Or just keep them safe and warm inside and call it a day.

I am going with the latter.