Snow Day No Way!

When I taught full time in the classroom, as most teachers will agree, snow days are like treats- little vacation days- like an oasis in the desert.  We cherish them. We get silly and act like Oprah's audience during her "Favorite Things" show. 

But now as a substitute teacher, I say "Snow day, no way! "   For me, a snow day now means a day of no work which translates to a day without pay.   So when we have snow days, I lose money.  Money that I cannot make up.

So while I still like the idea of cuddling up on the sofa with a cup of cocoa and a book, watching the snow and cold from inside; I do not-- cannot-- afford them.

We've had two snow days thus far this year. My neighbors to the east have had a whole week of them.
Have you had snow days? 

Un - called for stress

The weather threatened to get bad on Friday.  Snow and ice were on their way according to the forecasters.  Nevertheless, school began as usual.  I heard rumors that we would let out early, but I had a busy day planned and no time to check email or call the office.  I figured if we were let out, we would find out.

At 11:00, I had the class in the media center doing some research when the media specialist offered to help me make phone calls.  I had no idea what she was talking about.  She reported that school indeed was letting out early and teachers were asked to call all the parents of their children. 

WHAT !?!?!   When did that policy go into effect?   When our time was up in the media center, I herded walked my class back to the room as I strategized how I would make close to 30 calls in the net hour.  I scrapped the next lesson and asked kids to get out a book to read while I looked at my email.   Sure enough, teachers were being asked to call the parents of students who were the oldest in their family at our school.

My stress level increased as I :

1. figured out which students were the oldest at our school
2. figured out how to busy engage the students with something they could do independently until lunch 
3. decided which of the 3 -4 numbers to call for each child ( and wonder if they would be in service)
4. interupted parents at work to tell tehm something they already knew --most had text alerts in place
5. discovered the school phones wouldn't work because the circuits were overloaded with all the teachers calling
6. used up many, many cell phone minutes   ( and also gave out my private cell phone number to parents as I made the calls)
7. wondered if my cell battery would still be charged if my car slipped into a ditch on the way home

I was about 2/3 done when the office called me at least 3 times.  Seems primary teachers were wondering if we had gotten hold of big sister's parents yet.  Ugh!   Also, I had at least 2 parents want to discuss their child's progress when I called.  I promised to get back to them at another time, because I only had 30 minutes to call 10 more parents.

I hope they never do that to us again.