The upcoming eclipse will be aquite a thing for the area affected.
Thing is many school are reporting record numbers of teachers wanting the time off. So should schools in the affected are consider closing.
Consider in our area (Kansas city) 2 years ago they closed schools because of the KC Royals world Series win and parade.
No. Make it a learning experience and incorporate it into the school day. Teachers who want to travel can burn a personal leave day or take an unpaid day off.
I was in school for the last one and we did the “learn about the solar eclipse and make a pin-hole camera” thing in the week leading up to it.
I would hope schools are using this as a teaching opportunity this time around also.
The local TV reported that St. Joseph MO has closed schools.
It’s smack dab in the middle of the path.
I would have thought it might be a liability issue. If the kids don’t wear the glasses correctly they could hurt their eyes.
Let them burn their eyes out at home, not on school property.
A lot of substitute teachers are taking the day off, too. And early in the school year is when there are the fewest subs available anyway (it takes time to hire them, and many subs only do it for a year or two). Usually, this isn’t a big problem, because there aren’t as many teachers taking off early in the school year, but in this case? Probably.
Regardless of whether you’re paying the teachers or counting it against their personal days or whatever, you still need an adult in the classroom with the kids. A lot of schools that are officially open might have to resort to putting all the kids in the gymnasium with whatever teachers showed up that day watching all of them.
I’m surprised you’re back in school already! Kids around here don’t go back until after Labor Day.
School here starts the day after. If it didn’t, my kids would get to miss a day (though my daughter would refuse the opportunity).
My kid is staying home from school, and I called off work. So, it’s a holiday for us, regardless of what the school says.
Schools in Indy started a week ago.
I found out earlier today (bottom part of the post) that SC school schedules are being adjusted because of the eclipse.
Hells yeah. The '79 eclipse was a school day, and science class that day was watching the eclipse (through appropriate darkened lenses that the science teacher provided.)
And it wasn’t even a total eclipse where I went to school.
It’s science, folks, not an excuse to party. (Or, for adults, exclusively an excuse to party.)
Obligatory xkcd link:
Many communities in the path of Totality are already concerned about traffic and the availability of other resources next Monday, so it seems like a no brainer to close schools for the day.
Outside the path, why not. They close for all sorts of reasons I consider less important. We lived in one town where school was closed the first Friday in November every year because the local State U had their homecoming parade. I think an eclipse is a better excuse than that.
Kinda of a tangent here … but the Salem (Oregon) Volcanoes baseball team will be playing and they’ll be having the first ever “game suspension due to eclipse” … I thought that was cute …
It would seem like the best answer is yes, It’s a day off - this is due to practicality. Second best answer is it’s a optional field day if tye have staffing to do this. Worst answer is it’s a regular school day. A eclipse is perhaps a once in a lifetime happening, it’s a hit against humanity to have students indoors chained to a desk already, even more so to cause them to miss out on this.
The school in my town (which is ~20 miles from 100% totality) finally made the decision to cancel school. Yesterday. They’ve known about this for a year (well, a hundred years, if you want to get technical, but…) and they just made the decision yesterday.
I doubt many of the kids would have gone to school that day anyway.
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This seems more opinion than fact, so off to IMHO it goes (from GQ).
My daughter’s school district bought a pair of those viewing glasses for every student in every school. They’re making a big adventure out of it, teaching them how to make those box viewers. My daughter would be heartbroken if they canceled. She’d just be stuck with her old mama all day!
It is funny that they sent an email, called with a message and sent home a 2 page permission slip letting parents know the possible dangers and allowing them to choose an alternate lesson indoors. I’d hate to be the kid whose parents were too afraid of the eclipse to let their kids participate.
The school district in which my wife teaches has made the decision that it will be a regular school day, and students will be kept inside all afternoon. No outside recess that day, and any outside athletic practices are to be rescheduled. Students can watch the eclipse via “television broadcasts, webcasts, online streaming, etc.”
They seem to have decided that the potential risks (and perhaps potential liability, though they don’t say that) of kids dropping their safety glasses or not using them correctly is too much for them to take on.
By contrast, the University where I work has a big viewing party scheduled, with free protective glasses available.