Ok, be ye' forewarned, I am gettin' up on my soap box here. Hopefully I can vent my frustrations blogging and not scare the neighbors with my ranting and raving .....
My kids went to school Monday and haven't been back since. Why? Well because it snowed of course. And yes, I realize we live in Ohio which is IN THE NORTH where it SNOWS ALL THE TIME. And of course I realize I am not in Wisconsin or Michigan or North Dakota or Maine, I do understand there are places that get more snow than us. But you know what? THEY STILL GO TO SCHOOL WHEN IT SNOWS. And before I go further with this rant, please understand, I am not upset that I have my kids at home. I honestly don't mind it so much. The kids get a little bored but for the most part, it's not so bad. And snow days are a great excuse to stay in jammies until lunch time. What I am upset about is that now we will be going to school well into June and I am hoping to come to Texas this summer for an extended visit. The longer we are in school, the shorter my summer is and the less time we have for travel.
So we have 5 bad weather days a year. We used up three of them when the wind storm hit back in September and those were well used days. Power was out, trees were completely down or about to fall, roofs needed to be repaired, some school cafeterias needed to be restocked, etc. BUT that meant we only had 2 days left to get us through the winter weather that WE KNEW WAS COMING. Those two precious days needed to be used SPARINGLY. But have they been used sparingly, of course not. One day school was called because "it was too cold". WHAT? WHAT?!?! Too cold? It was frigid, it was below 0 in the morning and only got up to single digits, something like 8 for a high. But still, do the kids take class outside? Are the buildings not heated? The reasoning they gave in the automated phone call - they were worried about the safety of the children standing at the bus stops for too long in the bitter cold. OK - as a mom who drives her kids to school when the temps are below 20 that is the LAMEST excuse I have ever heard. I am the parent, it is my job to take care of my kid and protect them, not the job of the school district. So then we were down to ONE LAST bad weather day. Then comes this week. Monday they went to school. Monday night it snowed and so school was cancelled on Tuesday. It was not much snow, maybe 2 or 3 inches? Little enough that this TEXAS gal was able to get out in it Tuesday afternoon and take all 3 kids to Audrey's orthodontist appt and then take all 3 kids to Kroger as well. The parking lots were a little tricky but we survived and I am not even used to driving in this!!!! Tuesday night it sleeted and snowed and it was nasty when we woke up Wednesday morning. I totally get cancelling school on Wednesday. It sleeted all night and then snowed until lunch time. We had 4 inches of snow on top of an inch or 2 of ice which had 2 inches of snow under it. We are out in the sticks and it takes a while for our streets to get plowed and salted. So I will give them Wednesday. But Thursday - everything had been plowed and salted and NO NEW SNOW FELL. And today, Friday, everything is still plowed and again - no new snow fell. The reasoning given for today - the main roads are fine but the neighborhood roads are still iffy and they were worried about the 16 and 17 year olds driving in it to get to the high school and worried that the buses would have difficulty navigating the neighborhood streets. AGAIN, my child is my responsibility. As a parent I am in charge of whether or not my teen drives to school and if I am not comfortable with him/her getting behind the wheel then it is my job to get that kid to school. And if the bus can't make it down my street then I will drive my kid to where the bus can make it or I will drive my kid all the way to the school. The school district being responsible for these decisions is like the govt being responsible for monitoring the food at McDonald's. If I am too stupid to realize that Big Macs and fries are fattening then let ME suffer the consequences of my actions. If you think the road conditions are iffy and not safe for buses, then leave it up to ME to get my kids to school or let ME decide to keep them home.
I swear - one of my biggest pet peeves about this part of the country is this ridiculous "entitlement mentality". These people think everything should be handed to them and they want everything regulated within an inch of its life. It is INSANE!!! No one here is willing to work for anything. No one thinks anything is their own personal responsibility. Ok - I shouldn't say no one, I live here and I don't feel that way and I would bet there are a handful of people who agree with me. ( that small handful that didn't vote for Obama) BUT THE OVERWHELMING MAJORITY of the people here are so freakin' lazy and whiny it drives me INSANE!!!!
Allright - best step off the soap box for a while, before I get my heart rate up too high ..... I do feel a little better but I think I still have some steam to blow off. Maybe I'll go shovel my driveway, again .....
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