Schools closed due to weather???

boardsiebob

Great responses!
The reason I opened up this thread originating in Jan from last weather ordeal is that so everybody can see that we will be in this situation again and again.

Maybe there are some ideas we could share?

I personally don't drop off my kids right in front of the school. I drop them in the village and they have to walk the rest. The reason being that it is always mayhem at 9am in front of the school.
Now with the ice it will be indeed dangerous.

Someone mentioned that the government first need to announce they will salt/grid all roads? Silly.
You only need to do this at the schools. A budget need to be there for it that can be managed by the school. Weren't there funds available for other weather related inconveniences? Like flooding?
That will at least keep the schools clear. Shouldn't be expensive to clear it and salt the area. We can't wait that the weather does it for us.
Town main streets are cleared sidewalks in front of commercial shops.

My kids school was supposed to open tomorrow at 10am but now they informed me that there is no electricity in it so they open on Fri!
Another set back. Can they not hook up a generator?

I remenber I got to school by sleigh when I was a kid! Those were the days:rolleyes:

byhookorbycrook

Some good points Bob, our school has salt for the yard and paths, but many buses cannot travel on the roads, likewise parents, so no kids=no school.

E.T.

boardsiebob wrote: »

Great responses!
The reason I opened up this thread originating in Jan from last weather ordeal is that so everybody can see that we will be in this situation again and again.
Maybe there are some ideas we could share?
I personally don't drop off my kids right in front of the school. I drop them in the village and they have to walk the rest. The reason being that it is always mayhem at 9am in front of the school.
Now with the ice it will be indeed dangerous.

This might be fine where you live, but as I mentioned, the footpaths are unuseable in my school area.

boardsiebob wrote: »

Someone mentioned that the government first need to announce they will salt/grid all roads? Silly.
You only need to do this at the schools. A budget need to be there for it that can be managed by the school.

I said that all roads should be treated, and I really don't think this is silly if you want schools to stay open. I'll clarify - obviously I don't mean every boirín, but I do mean regional roads, which even though they may be marked regional on maps, are actually the main arteries between towns.

Where I work, the majority of kids are coming from very rural areas, many of them are travelling up to ten miles to school. We haven't seen some of these kids since last week, even though the school has been open. Not all of the staff live locally - The way I drive to school (on one of these "regional"/but actually very busy roads hasn't been treated at all and is extremely dangerous.

boardsiebob wrote: »

Weren't there funds available for other weather related inconveniences? Like flooding?
That will at least keep the schools clear. Shouldn't be expensive to clear it and salt the area. We can't wait that the weather does it for us.
Town main streets are cleared sidewalks in front of commercial shops.

I've never heard of funds available for weather related inconveniences for schools. As far as I know, many people affected by floods last year are still waiting for personal compensation. It would be great if schools were given money to buy salt/grit. It would also be necessary for parents who wish to send their kids to indemnify the B.O.M. from legal action in case of accidents in such conditions. This is one of the main reasons schools are closing. No matter how much yards are treated, there's always going to be icy patches. Kids fall daily on completely dry yards, if it happens in this weather people take legal action. It's crazy.

boardsiebob wrote: »

My kids school was supposed to open tomorrow at 10am but now they informed me that there is no electricity in it so they open on Fri! Another set back. Can they not hook up a generator?

You're expecting a lot of things to be done at short notice. It is another set back, and not an everyday one for a school. Maybe they can hook up a generator - on the other hand maybe they can't get hold of an electrician to do it, or even get hold of a generator at short notice. Would you prefer if they'd kept trying and not notified you until tomorrow morning?

I remenber I got to school by sleigh when I was a kid! Those were the days:rolleyes:[/QUOTE]

Here's some of my suggestions:

Councils should treat ALL busy roads, even if they are labelled regional/minor on maps. If they are the main way between towns, then obviously they're vital transport routes. They should also treat school areas and yards. This can't be done by hand - machinery is needed to treat these areas due to their size. Getting staff/parents to shovel the walkway in isn't going to cover in case of legal action.

Provide the money to insulate all schools properly. So many school days have been wasted because of burst pipes because money was spared on plumbing and insulation costs, due to lack of funding.

Set up a website with a list of all of the schools in the country so that each school can log in and update if they're open or not the next day. I know this isn't an ideal situation, and people won't always be able to access the internet, whether to check or update, but it's better than the current situation where there is no central place for parents to check.

Remove the threat of legal action from accidents which occur in schools. Kids have accidents. They fall on a regular basis. Obviously it's a different situation if accidents occur due to neglect, but parents should not be allowed to sue B.O.M.s for general, everyday falls. I would however agree that B.O.M.s that let kids onto icy premises are leaving themselves open to being sued.

boardsiebob

You are lucky that your school at least tries to provide a service.
Here the school service completely breaks down and that is what I have a problem with.
Yes, I would prefer the text to come in in the morning after they assessed the situation (weather here can be extremely changeable). Last Janunary I had to laugh that they were caught out when the thaw set in all of a sudden. They had the school closed during perfectly fine days, causing a few embarrassments up to minister level!

The governement gave 12Mln for the flooding disaster I believe. This was not money for individuals, just for general things like clearing roads, sandbags etc, works.
I personally wouldn't mind to pay €10 each year to fund salt/grid for my kids school. This will also pay for local guy with digger/shovel attachment to clear and then salt/grid the area with a hopper to keep area free.
Keeping the area free is the main thing here. You don't let it get to this stage of compacted solid ice. A few men early in the morning to clear.
There should be enough fas guys around. This is more important than watering the village flowerbeds in the summer.
Commercial premises around the country like hotels and their car parks keeping it clear!
I also am in favour that teachers get intouch via email/website to provide some service to the kids at home. The school service should not completely break down.

Risk on the roads is a relative thing isn't it? 100 years ago when cars were invented people thought they were dangerous. If those people back then saw what we are doing now with cars (driving 80km/h towards eachother with 1m near misses), they would think we are insane.
The thing is if these icy conditions continue we will get used to it and take more and more risk.

Teachers do get pay for sitting at home doing nothing during these days. How can a country like Ireland survive? I know it is not their fault it snows but I do think the service would be better if they knew that they wouldn't get automatically payed for these off days.
If they knew that they would have to make up for it, the service would probably already improve.
Don't expect the government to improve things here, because since BoM have the power to keep school closed it is out of govrnmt hands. The power and resposibility is now with the people. Nice and easy.
As it stands my kids already have lost 5% of school because of this and we're only at start of the winter!

E.T.

boardsiebob wrote: »

Teachers do get pay for sitting at home doing nothing during these days. How can a country like Ireland survive? I know it is not their fault it snows but I do think the service would be better if they knew that they wouldn't get automatically payed for these off days.
If they knew that they would have to make up for it, the service would probably already improve.
Don't expect the government to improve things here, because since BoM have the power to keep school closed it is out of govrnmt hands. The power and resposibility is now with the people. Nice and easy.
As it stands my kids already have lost 5% of school because of this and we're only at start of the winter!

I think some of your statements are really ill-thought and pretty offensive. It's your assumption that teachers are sitting at home doing nothing. I know plenty are, but again, there are plenty at home getting work ready, revising plans etc. It's the exact same as people in any line of work - some will sit on their ass, some will try and get something done. I got a load of work done today at home. I'm ready willing and able to work, but it's not safe to enter our premises.

How on earth would "the service would be better if they knew that they wouldn't get automatically payed for these off days." If I wasn't getting paid for today it wouldn't make any difference to the kids - they still can't attend the school for safety reasons.

You mention B.O.M. as if it's some kind of malevolent power! I'm on the B.O.M. of my school, and I, along with the other members, do not want a child, parent, or member of staff falling and hurting themselves. This is the priority, plain and simple. There are also parents and community reps on the B.O.M., so it's as "nice and easy" as you think or feel. It's safety above all else at the moment, any of the parents I met yesterday were in total agreement.

boardsiebob

If this is offensive to you then you must feel not entirely comfortable getting full pay for these days. And this is meant as a compliment. Many others wouldn't care.
I wouldn't feel comfortable either taking full pay for sitting at home.

If the government now announced that these days would need to be made up for then I can garantee you the service would improve. I am not saying you guys are slackers with this. Just that there must be an incentive to get the service up again.

The parents/kids should be responsible themselves to get up to school.

byhookorbycrook

The problem is wider than the area around the school esp in rural areas. We have children and staff from 5 counties, so spreading salt at the school site is not enough.