Bad week for a snow storm.
Tomorrow is the U.S. History Regents exam here in New York. At our school, the main block of students take the U.S. History Regents in January to ensure that they will still have another chance to take it in June if they don't pass. This is important, since seniors take the U.S. History Regents and they need the exam to graduate.
So tomorrow's storm wreaks havoc with that plan. Unless the storm is a bust, I know that student attendance will be lighter, even though it is an exam day. I teach in Manhattan, but we have students who come from as far away as the neighborhoods that border Queens/Long Island, Far Rockaway, Staten Island, and the North Bronx. 14 inches of snow can be a legitimate impediment to students traveling into Manhattan from those distant places.
Nonetheless, the mayor says schools are open tomorrow, so if students don't show up for the Regents, well, that's their tough luck. And ours too, of course. Since that means a programming nightmare next semester as the Social Studies department will have to scramble to make sure seniors are STILL prepared for their U.S. History Regents exam five months from now. Of course, school closure would mean the same thing.
So, a lose-lose.
I can totally empathize with history teachers tonight. A few years ago, it looked like a storm was going to wipe out the second day of the ELA Regents exam. We prayed to the snow gods to hold off on the snow until after the exam and lo and behold, that was just what the snow gods did. The snow held off until the next day.
Unfortunately, the next day was the U.S. History Regents exam, if memory serves me. And the mayor had to declare a snow day, which he dutifully did at 5:30 AM or some late hour like that.
What do the snow gods have against history teachers?
There are no make up days for the January Regents - it has nothing to do with what the mayor does or does not decide in terms of snow.
ReplyDeleteIt would be prudent of the state to postpone the entire regents. The year schools were closed was bad for the borderline kids. Many did not get regents diplomas that year.
ReplyDeleteFortunately, Mayor Bloomberg is announcing whether or not school is closed at 5 AM rather than 5:30. By his standards, that's a great improvement. One of the great things about his standards is they don't need to be checked out, proven, or demonstrably valid. Once you have that much money, whatever you say becomes instantly true. Just check the local editorial pages if you don't believe me.
ReplyDelete