Decatur Schools Open Wednesday
Decatur Metro | January 8, 2014 | 7:19 amIn case anyone was still wondering. From CSD…
As of 9:40 PM Tuesday evening, barring any unforeseen emergencies, City Schools of Decatur will be operating on a normal schedule tomorrow. We look forward to seeing all of our students back in school! Today, district staff checked all buildings, HVAC units, and buses to make certain all were operating properly. Please be sure to bundle-up tomorrow. The CDC suggests that children and adults wear the following in extreme cold:
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– a hat
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– a scarf or knit mask to cover face and mouth
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– sleeves that are snug at the wrist
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– mittens (they are warmer than gloves)
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– water-resistant coat and shoes
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– several layers of loose-fitting clothing
They should have checked everything on Sunday and open the schools on Monday along with the extra layers suggestion.
I was surprised they were not closed today as well since the temperature this morning when I took my son to school was 17 degrees at 7:30am. This is an embarrassment
Seriuosly an embarrassment ? Do you have people at work bullying you with comments like:
My school was closed because it was -50. And your school closed becase of a little cold!
Or do you have to stand in front of someone and admit you tried to take your son and no one was there? ( though with robo calling all cells and landlines and FB that’s not possible)
What exactly are you embarrassed about and the bigger question is to whom are you embarrassed in front of???
A lot of people can’t afford to run out and buy clothes at a moment’s notice, especially warm winter coats, which normally aren’t needed here. And CSD didn’t make its decisions in a bubble, but in accordance with considered opinion throughout Metro Atlanta. My fear is that, next time, they will succumb to the groupthink on the web, rather than doing what they think best.
Don’t worry Annette. There’s no danger of that!
Nobody wants them to succumb to groupthink on the web, Annette. Except when it comes to school zones, IB, AP, class size, arts & recess, trailers, SLTs and lunch menus. Those exceptions aside, I think everyone’s got pretty reasonable expectations. 😉 (And yes, the winky face does allow me a complete and total dispensation from any level of offense or outrage. Just blowing off steam now that my house has been reclaimed from a loafing teenager.)
Have you considered the possibility that you have the minority opinion on this issue? You made a similar comment about a day or two ago, but in my experience, the views expressed on DM are fairly representative of the population in whole. So, if most here disagreed with closing the schools, I think it is likely that a majority of CSD parents feel the same.
And yes, regarding Monday, CSD made its decision in a bubble as it was the first metro area school system to overreact and prematurely close due to a possibility of snow or ice.
Public blogs have their limitations as a measure of general opinion but so do other means of gauging opinion e.g. surveys, calls to CSD or the Board, town halls, conversations among parents outside of school, etc. All are limited by who has access to them and who bothers to respond.
As for groupthink, there’s a lot of it around Decatur. The problem is distinguishing groupthink from consensus from brainwashed from lazy thinking from facts. The human brain is an imperfect machine and we humans are a strange species.
I’m questioning the thoughts behind “Atlanta isn’t used to cold weather.” I’ve been here 3 years now and each winter there are plenty of cold days (20s and 30s). This is cold weather! It’s not Miami. No one is used to single-digit temps, but it does indeed get cold here so an investment in a winter coat would not be a waste of money.
Oh, my God. I can’t believe someone is still complaining about the schools being closed on Monday. The kids have gone back today – move on!
I am horrified that CSD does not recommend a winter coat made of baby Sable. It’s very warm, and, even more importantly, oh-so-stylish (when properly tailored, of course).
For the sake of the children . . .
If two days off school is that big of a deal, then you need to get some perspective and perhaps a chill pill. Take it down a notch.
I think the shut down is knee jerk and illogical.
I don’t understand why 7 degrees is too cold and 15 degrees is A-Ok. Is 10 degrees farenheit the abratrary line-of danger?
Meteorology 101 – no wind today.
Just a completely unwarranted slam on gloves there from CSD. Let the Great Gloves VS Mittens Debate begin! THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE.
Ignore the lobster claw glove at your peril! This hybrid offers the warmth of a mitten while supplying a glove-like dexterity for the fingers.
Ok, I side with CSD on this one. Mittens are clearly warmer, especially for static activities like sitting at the bus stop. However, they fail as soon as finger dexterity is needed–e.g. for texting and other vital movements–because then the digits must be removed from protection. Best case scenario–very light silk or cotton gloves underneath nice warm mittens. That’s the ticket!
But I have to disagree with them on the water-proof footwear. It’s more important that they be warm. Rain boots are not very warm. In fact, I’d focus on the socks–a pair of thick wool socks–they can be the cheap kind from the hardware store–can make even sneakers warm for awhile.
They recommended WATER-RESISTANT FOOTWEAR, not waterproof. The intended message was don’t send your kids out in this weather wearing cloth sneakers.
Good point. And I was really just getting into the spirit of the mitten vs. glove controversy, clearly the most important one on this blog right now. However, I’ll bet the average male child in Decatur, rich, poor, or in between, does not own any shoe wear besides sneakers/athletic shoes/tennis shoes, unless their mother requires them to own leather shoes for church (and church wear by kids is pretty darn casual these days). Rather than buy water-resistant shoes that may be kind of expensive and are worn infrequently, I suggest cheap wool socks. All my years of outdoor life out West left me with a healthy respect for wool, which still insulates even it’s wet. Few other materials do that.
Agree w/ you on socks. I wear wool socks three seasons, even here. Wet wool is warmer than dry cotton.
the wind chill makes a huge difference….my drafty 1930’s house was significantly warmer last night / this morning than yesterday. There is a big difference b/t feeling like -10 with the wind chill than 17 degrees and no wind this morning.
Also my kid is in a “cottage” aka trailer which I don’t think would have retained the heat as well as the building with the wind yesterday. my 2 cents and soapbox ended…
Jesus people, it was 2 days not 2 weeks. I’m sure the teachers are perfectly capable of accelerating their lesson plans. This sounds more like the teachers weren’t able to babysit your kids for a day complaint, than an actual concern over lost knowledge, never to be replaced or substituted,
Man….all over the South and Atlanta schools were closed. In Minneapolis offices closed some for first time in 20 years, Wisconsin schools closed. Lake Michigan froze…. planes were grounded…. trains were slowed. I am sympathetic with the decision and aware that there are lots of factors without much precedent. Surprised you might be, but let’s spare the outrage for bigger issues.
See report from Decaturish below. Didn’t I say that frozen water pipes might be a concern of CSD? (Problem is that burst pipes can cause a bigger problem AFTER an intense freeze when they thaw out and the water starts flowing again.)
BROKEN WATER PIPE FORCES EVACUATION OF DECATUR’S 4/5 ACADEMY
Decatur’s 4/5 Academy at Fifth Avenue reports that its students were evacuated today due to a broken water pipe.
Here’s the email from the principal to parents:
Dear F.AVE Families-
We experienced a broken water pipe at F.AVE this afternoon and the building was evacuated. All is well at this time and students and staff have returned to the building to resume their school activities.
Sincerely,
Bruce Roaden, Principal
Yes! I’m glad that they weren’t evacuated yesterday in 10 degrees and gusty winds. I think that this shows that CSD made the right call.
To add to that, the heat in my daughter’s 1st grade classroom wasn’t functioning properly today. They all wore hats and scarves until the problem was fixed. I, too, agree with the closing of the schools. Better safe than sorry!
I am hearing about burst water pipes all over the place–in homes, in workplaces, now schools. Have decided that’s the biggest risk from southern coldocalypses. Our pipes are out in the open in unheated basements and crawl spaces, many of which are part earthen.
That’s an interesting point. My daughter was evacuated from the lunch room. Though we didn’t talk about these details, now that I think of it I bet she didn’t have her coat/hat/scarf/mittens handy.
my son said his 4th grade class was evacuated from the lunchroom and stood outside, without coats, for about 30 minutes. i understand operating with an abundance of caution in these situations, but thought maybe some intrepid soul could have swum through the flooded hallways to retrieve a few jackets for our snowflakes.
I have only had one experience with burst pipes, as a kid many years ago in my grandparents home up North. They had left town, turned down their heat, and then there was unexpectedly freezing weather. There was a huge mess but that’s because water had been leaking out for days. Are burst pipes acutely dangerous?
initially i thought it was an overreaction until i read (below) the burst pipe was in the electrical room. given the potential outcome of that, i guess a little shivering was a reasonable price to pay for safety.
I’m wondering why this wasn’t sent out to parents? I’ve signed up for all school alerts, and this wasn’t sent to me. Wouldn’t that make more sense?
FYI, while I often enjoy the lively discussion here, I know that I often don’t express my opinion on here. Because, really, I don’t enjoy the snarky and often mean-spirited comments when they’re aimed at me. So, I don’t think this site does represent all opinions in the city.
My son reports that the burst pipe was in the electrical room, so i think the evacuation was probably due to fear of fire.
This parent received it early afternoon yesterday.
Maybe others don’t enjoy the snarky comments either, which is why they use these alias nickname things.
I was talking about the announcement that schools WOULD be in, not that burst pipe.
Thanks, Chewey.
The email was sent to Fave families only I think, or those signed up specifically for Fave eBlasts.
The leak was in an electrical room so something in there (steam or sparks maybe?) set the fire alarm off, thus the evacuation and firefighters coming. Once confirmed it wasn’t a fire and all was safe they went back inside and carried on with their day.
They were still working on the pipe repair today, kids were sent thru the front doors of the school this morning due to work going on in the back of the building.
My son said it was very exciting, a bit scary too since it was a real evacuation procedure rather than a drill but seeing the firefighters coming and going was really cool. Apparently they were all soaking wet when they were leaving so it must’ve been quite a big leak.
The evacuation was handled expertly by the teachers & staff at Fave, as always. Kudos to them all!
FYI that leaks due to pipe bursts are still just showing up. It takes a while for the pipes to unfreeze, start leaking, then leak enough that they are noticed. I highly recommend that folks walk around their property and actively check rather than wait until things are so bad that you can’t miss the burst. I know someone who just opened their garage door from the outside only to have a wave of water rush out at them.