Snow - not an excuse!

[Greenfrog]

Hi there,

We had snow here last week - it snowed all Wednesday afternoon and then froze overnight. Not a good combination. As no gritting done and a 10 min drive on country roads in prospect we thought it best not to take kids to College. Consulted one of their friends who goes on the bus and lives in our village and they weren't going. Neither were friends who live within walking distance of the school.

But they didn't cancel the buses just said they were going to be disrupted and late.

Even though only 10 kids were at school the school say we all have to write an absence note for Thursday and that they will have to attend school on two Wednesday afternoons to make up the time.

This seems totally ridiculous as in the end hardly any teachers could get there and there was no lunch.

I have refused to write a note as it seems totally ludicrous. Has anyone else had a problem with snow days?

[Rose (& Greyman)]

Just my view but personally I don't know what you are getting so excited about. It just sounds like a c**k up in communication somewhere. Just write the note otherwise your child will have a negative mark against their vie scolaire score. The Wednesday afternoons sound a bit odd. Do they plan to keep the school open especially for this ? I doubt if they do it on strike days but then again if the college are offering and your child has missed out on something important then  take up the offer. If they missed nothing I think most parents will vote with their feet and not bother.

Our bus was cancelled again today so I just stuck mine in the car and drove there. No ice and +4 degrees all the way. You just need to be pragmatic about it.

[Chancer]

If its only a 10 minute drive by car in normal conditions then perhaps not unreasonably the school would have expected them to walk, I understand your prudence in not using the car but what would the children do on a day that your car has a flat battery, being repaired etc?

I walked over 10km yesterday mostly on the roads as the snowdrifts were too deep on the footpaths and you could possibly trip down a hidden kerb, it was very very safe indeed as there were so few cars on the road and they were driving very slow, I was more than happy for them to pass within a metre or so of me.

In fact it was a hundred times safer than travelling the same roads on my bicycle, something that even as rash as I am, I wont do between November and February, and probably a thousand times safer than using a passage pieton at any time of the year.

[Greenfrog]

Yes you are right Greyman. I will write the absence note eventually - I am just holding fire while all the irate parents unleash their displeasure and see if that changes things. And I agree you have to decide for yourself on the conditions. When we went in the next day there were still sections of black ice on bends but by afternoon it was all fine.

Just had a text from eldest daughter no lessons after 2pm today as none of her teachers in! Great when their Brevet Blanc is very soon. It is this that annoys me - they get pompous about parents deciding it wasn't safe to drive and the next thing a whole afternoon of lessons is written off for no reason.

C'est la vie - I guess!

[Greenfrog]

Hi Chancer,

Ah if only I could persuade two teenagers to walk 10 km to attend school! As I said I was surprised that even the kids in the same town as the college didn't walk to school. One of their friends did and was sent home so I guess communications were a bit awry!

[Chancer]

My friend a teacher at a lycée proffessionale 30 km away was worried about travelling to work today, it is a bad road and would have been OK last night with little traffic but bad today with all the commuters and HGV's.

There are no school buses running in the Pas De Calais and pupils living locally were sent home, those in the internat had lessons until friday and their parents had to get them home as the bus drivers still refuse to work, they usually make an extra couple of weeks holiday whenever it snows.

There will be no pupils on Monday (today) yet she was told that staff must make their way in where possible, if they dont attend they will not be paid.