Mar. 23, 2019

By Dr. Dennis L. Carpenter

I’m from the South where snow days are a rare occurrence. And you best believe that when snow days come around everyone gets excited!

This is because you never knew when you might have another one, so you enjoy snow days to the fullest. When I arrived in the Midwest, I maintained my excitement about snow days. That was until this year. I have officially lost my zest for snow days! After eleven snow days I think it’s safe to say that everyone (except the Class of 2019 who doesn’t make them up) is ready for snow days to be a thing of the past. Winter has overstayed its welcome and we are waiting with great anticipation for spring to show her face. To pay homage to the eleven snow days we’ve had this year and bid them farewell, I have developed “Dr. Carpenter’s Top 11 Reasons to be Done with Snow Days.”

1. My assistant, Ms. Linda Ismert, reports she’s running out of “cute” boots to wear.
2. Our Executive Director of Public Relations Kelly Wachel is getting nervous because she’s running out of celebrity friends to assist us with snow day videos and calls.
3. Students are starting to recycle memes they’ve already used to make their case for a snow day.
4. Our maintenance and custodial teams have done a magnificent job of removing snow, salting and sanding. But, guess what? They get cold too and even if they don’t say it… they are OVER IT!
5. There is no good way to have regular school and summer school at the same time.
6. Teachers aren’t able to get into a good instructional flow…start/stop, start/stop, start/stop…you get the picture.
7. We’ve missed over two weeks of instructional time that’ll be added to the end of the year, after students have taken state tests.
8. I’m blessed to have some great leaders on the leadership team and I really appreciate them, but I can do without the cell phone beeps and vibrations of another 4:28 a.m. group text thread!
9. Director of Transportation Keith Henry is over 4:00 a.m. drives to check roads across one of the largest school districts in the state…ours.
10. Parents are tired of having to think about which BASS site to take their children to each morning.

And, drum roll please, Dr. Carpenter’s number one reason to be done with snow days is…

1. The district’s teachers and students piloted a 4-Day Work Week for several weeks and no one contacted my office for approval!