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A school board in South Carolina has launched a pilot program to get rid of snow days and instead have students work from home when the weather turns treacherous. Beyond depriving schoolkids of the joys of weather-enforced truancy, the plan will exacerbate the region's digital divide for student who don't have internet access at home.
Anderson County School District Five will be the first region to participate in the pilot program this upcoming school year. In the past, Anderson County had makeup days tacked on to the end of the school year in lieu of days missed due to bad weather, but most kids ended up just skipping them, according to a local news report.
Students from grades 3 through 12 in the school board are already given Chromebooks to use at home, so in the event of a snow day or other inclement weather that causes a shutdown, kids will be expected to log on from home, communicate with teachers, and complete assignments.
Source: MotherBoard
(Score: 5, Informative) by AthanasiusKircher on Saturday August 04 2018, @07:52PM (8 children)
I'll just add to this that it's much less likely to get a "snow day" in SC (or many Southeastern states) and more likely to get a "freezing rain day" (or a chance of sleet or whatever). And those sorts of events (or at least a good chance of them) can happen several times per season, particularly in the western (more mountainous) part of the state, which is being discussed in TFA.
The problem isn't only stupid drivers. It's the lack of freezing weather infrastructure like plows and most importantly salt and salt trucks. Freezing rain is difficult to predict almost everywhere, because it depends very precisely on where the freeze line falls. In northern states that have infrastructure to prepare for such events, they can pretreat roads, and if there's a BRIEF period where precipitation turns frozen, the salt and other treatments are enough to handle it.
In the Southeast, this simply doesn't happen most places, and it's surprising how little frozen mix it takes until cars start to slide around like an ice rink... Even if you're a careful driver.
You're right that this is then exacerbated by people who don't know how to drive in winter weather. But the overall reason why many schools get closed frequently in the Southeast is the fear of that wintry mix, which is often most difficult to predict.
(Score: 1, Troll) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday August 04 2018, @09:44PM (7 children)
Speak for yourself. I can drive perfectly well (by which I mean without accident not at the same speed) on anything my vehicle will move in. I'm well aware most people in the south are shitty drivers even in perfectly ordinary rain though. I'd much rather drive through downtown Chicago than Houston if there's any type of weather at all.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by sjames on Saturday August 04 2018, @11:06PM (6 children)
Here's a fun fact for you. Sometimes during a southern snow storm, your car actually won't move significantly. The wheels just spin. If you're unlucky, they might briefly catch on a pebble and send you into a ditch.
More fun, those road conditions are often mixed with patches of road that are just wet. If you get moving on a wet patch, you may find yourself sliding on a patch of black ice where no amount of braking, accelerating, or steering is even slightly relevant to your speed and direction of travel.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday August 04 2018, @11:12PM (5 children)
Been through more than a few, yep. Ice storms are a whole lot more fun than regular old winter weather too. Snow or patchy ice is a hell of a lot easier to drive on than a solid sheet of ice that covers half the state. A half dozen bags of cement or similar in the back of the truck make it easier but you still have to know what you're doing and always play it safe.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Saturday August 04 2018, @11:25PM (4 children)
I just stay off of the road, mostly because of people that have somehow convinced themselves that they can regain control by flooring it. I don't want to be anywhere near them when physics shows them they're wrong.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday August 04 2018, @11:41PM (3 children)
Heh, I just stay well back from everyone, take my time, be very careful, and keep on truckin.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Sunday August 05 2018, @12:32AM (2 children)
I hate to come to TMB's defense in anything, but I have driven thousands of miles in snow accident-free and that's exactly my approach.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday August 05 2018, @02:42AM
You know what's a worse pain than icy roads? Pogonip fogs. You already can't see for shit for the fog, then your mirrors and any windows that don't have a lot of heat warming them get a thick coating of ice on them. They are not fun when you're trying to make it from OKC to Chicago in eight hours.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 05 2018, @02:09PM
The problem is with the person tailgating you.