Don't Back Down

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) have a "weather problem". This problem comes from the fact that weather is typically pretty mild in Charlotte. This year, we've missed five days. Woops.

The first problem is that students are supposed to be in school for 180 days out of the year. We've made up three days, are making up another on Friday, and will have one extra day to make up (currently scheduled to be tacked onto the end of the year).

Another problem is that this Friday is Good Friday, and some parents don't like the idea that their kids go to school on Good Friday. I don't actually have any recollection of getting out of school on Good Friday when I was a student, and I don't really mind if our kids do or not, but as it adds an extra day to the spring vacation, I can understand that people who made plans for that day to get a head-start will be upset.

Another argument is that report cards are to be mailed on Wednesday, and no new instruction will start until after spring break, so going to school on Friday is a waste of time. I don't get this at all.

If report cards are mailed on Wednesday, it seems to me like Thursday is a waste of time too. For that matter, if report cards are being mailed on Wednesday, I can't imagine anyone will be graded for that day's work in that report card, so why go Wednesday? While we're at it, does this mean that teachers will run home and frantically grade Tuesday's work that very night, to get the information ready to be mailed out on Wednesday, and the school staff will assemble that information Wednesday morning in time for the mail? I doubt that is realistic - and if it is, it doesn't really seem that it will be at all accurate, so isn't Tuesday also a waste?

No, it seems to me that the report cards are going out with a cutoff date of sometime last week (or perhaps earlier). Though it still makes you wonder what is happening this week, if no new instruction happens between the report card cutoff and the end of spring break. If nothing else, this should be an excellent opportunity for review and catch up and getting ready to get started again. Is this really so difficult?