Opinion: Weather not cooperating with schooling this year

Stupid groundhog.

Yes, I am fully aware that it really doesn’t matter whether Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow or not, that it’s just a bunch of silly folk lore. And even if it did mean something out East, it wouldn’t work in South Dakota. If we only get six more weeks of winter after Feb. 2, we count ourselves fortunate.

But after this lousy, frigid, windy, snowy winter that refuses to abide by my rule — bad weather only on weekends and school holidays — I’m grasping at straws here. The stupid rodent couldn’t even come through on that. He saw his shadow so it’s six more weeks of winter. He’s lucky I’m not a hunter. (I value my feet and companions too much for that; my shooting accuracy makes Dick Cheney look like Sergeant York.)

This winter’s effect on the school calendar has been a popular topic of discussion both among students and parents, as well as my colleague superintendents when I attend meetings with them. And I have to admit, it has gotten grating. We’ve missed five days of school this year and that is more than any other year I’ve superintended in Mitchell. People think I’m getting soft.

But while it is possible that this streak could continue and push the school year well into June, the truth is that at least right now, it’s really not that worrisome. We’ve missed five days but two of those were built in and the last day of school even with these missed is only May 24. Ask students around the country if they’d go for a May 24 dismissal (or even May 25, 26, 27 or 28), and they would answer with a chorus of “Yes!” along with some stray “woo hoos” and a few stanzas of “School’s out for the Summer,” my least favorite song. I visited New York last mid- to late-June and watched school buses zip through traffic mornings and afternoons and nobody, other than some of the Midwestern educators I was traveling with, batted an eye.

Frequently, people will try to get the real scoop on just how long we would be willing to go to school. Would we really push the school year into June?

Yes, as a matter of fact, we would. As I may have mentioned before, the number one educational input that correlates with learning is time spent on instruction. Sure, money matters and supplies matter and textbooks matter and having a high quality teacher really, really matters, but if you don’t have enough time, you can’t learn it. It really does matter whether or not we make up those last couple of days.

Unfortunately, that’s a tough thing to quantify. I can’t say just what will be lost if we yield a couple of days of school. Education doesn’t come in weights or volumes. In fact, the only way I can quantify it is with dollars and cents. The core function of any school district is its educational program. While it may do lots of other things — sports, extracurriculars, buses, lunches, etc. — all of these are focused on making the educational program better. Thus, it is fair to say that the entire general fund budget of a school goes toward the educational program. At Mitchell last year, we paid about $14,250,000 for a 174 day school year of seven-hour days. This means that a day of school costs about $82,000. Heck, an hour of school costs more than $11,000. We will always cancel days of school due to bad weather because safety is the pre-eminent concern. But at that kind of taxpayer expense and the corresponding loss to the students’ education, you can bet we’re going to make up each and every one of them.

I’m always a bit puzzled about the reaction of some people about “having” to make up school days. Would you agree to skip garbage pickup for a week because the trucks couldn’t get to your house one day because of a blizzard? If Social Security checks couldn’t be printed one day because of some huge weather disturbance in wherever those things are printed, would recipients agree to simply forego their check that month? If the mail couldn’t be delivered one day, shall the USPS just discard your mail for that day because they shouldn’t have to make that up?

You’ll have to pardon my bias, but I happen to believe that the education of youth is at least as important as any of those things.

We’ll make up each and every day. And if that means letting school out a little early on the Fourth of July so the students can watch the parade, I guess I can let that one slip by.

Tags: joe graves, opinion