We don’t need no education
I’ve made a point to be careful about what I say about Knoxville and Tennessee in general. After all, I don’t want to piss off too many people that I may have to deal with on a day to day basis.
But the past couple of days have pissed me off, so it’s about time I returned the favor.
The Knoxville News Sentinel has a story tonight about the low attendance rate in Knox County schools today. It appears that about half the kids in Knox County didn’t bother to go to school today because they might feel cold waiting for the bus. It was about 7 degrees in Knoxville this morning. No snow. No sleet. No freezing rain. Just a clear cold morning with a light north breeze.
Yes it was cold for Knoxville, but not much colder than a few nights last winter when we hit 9 or 10 degrees.
Anyway, back to my rant…. The story in the News Sentinel isn’t really the problem – the problem is that the comments on the story are ridiculous. The comments on this and yesterday’s story (talking about the Knox County Schools staying open today) are inane. I’ll give a couple of quotes here.
Remember as you read the comments that these people are upset because the school is open! Here’s the story that has these people so upset: Knox County schools Superintendent Dr. Jim McIntyre expressed disappointment that only 58.8 percent of county students went to school Friday.
“The district told parents they could keep children home if they believe the cold posed a threat to children’s safety, but McIntyre thought that would be rare.
“Frankly, I’m a little disappointed,” he said. “If we’re going to improve student achievement, if we’re going to move toward excellence for all children, we have to have a collective sense of urgency (and) a perspective that values education and believes it’s important.“”
All of the comments below are disagreeing with the Superintendent! Here are the comments. Read ‘em and weep.
Many of the schools have those portables for classrooms and the children have to walk OUTSIDE of the main building several times a day to go to classes, thus furthur exposure to dangerous temperatures. with excused absences it leaves the teachers having to endure this ridiculous call in order to babysit for the few students that will show up. They can’t teach a class if they don’t have one! BAD CALL KNOX CO. SCHOOLS OFFICIALS!!
what about kids that have to walk a mile or more to school and do not have adequate clothing.Rhis is extreme weather for this area.
Gosh gee whiz, why is everyone making such a fuss over one day of school. Dr. McIntyre was trying to be fair to all parents. If your child really wants to go to school he kept the Knox County schools open but if you don’t want them out in the extreme temps then your child will be excused from attending. It is really not a big deal as the kids are allowed ten days a year for excused and unexcused time away from school and some children are sick.
You have got to be kidding me…. A public person gives an option to the citizens and then files that he is “disappointed” in the choice we made. Well let’s back up and punt shall we. Who gave the OPTION to stay home and be excused due to cold weather. I like the head line though it shows a good cya when half the citizens choose to keep their kids home after being given the OPTION to stay home. I am sure that there were many happy homes today with family being home. We should really focus on family and that the superintendent made the choice to allow this to happen today.
Today i went in for second period and there was twelve out of fifty students in my class. So I left, especially since all the teachers were doing was baby sitting us.
O my gosh, can you believe it? You allowed kids to stay home from school and THEY DID IT!!!! Good for the kids. Utilize the built in snow days considering there never is any snow days.
Well if I felt the schools were warm and the teachers would not send them out in the cold like they did yesterday I would have sent mine on to school. But to avoid the trouble to having to fight the cold while they waited for the bus I made the decision to let both of mine miss. Carter Elementary is not the warmest school or the most update date school there is.
Let’s see, Superintendent from Boston doesn’t want to close schools due to the cold weather, so he gives parents the option to let the kids stay at home. Parents decide to keep them home and then super gets angry. Well, duh! He could have closed the schools, like the surrounding counties and he chose not to.
Here are some additional comments from a story on WBIR.com:
Where is the concern for our children? The only concern that I ever see from Knox County School System is to make sure the children are there, freezing temps, icy roads, or flooding, so they receive their pay for students attending class ALL DAY! This is the most ridiculous school system that I have ever seen!
Half of the buses, including the one that my child is on to get transferred to Holston Middle from Corryton, does not have any heating on them at all. These children that get bussed over to this school are on the bus for a good hour or so. This is absolutely ridiculous to allow the children to have to stand outside to wait to get in school or get on the bus in this kind of weather. (My comment on this comment – bullshit! The buses are inspected every year by federal law and all defects must be corrected before they’re allowed to pick up a single kid.)
OKAY.I JUST CALLED KNOX COUNTY SUPER. OFFICE AND COMPLAINED ABOUT THIS! The lady said if enough complaints come in over about Knox county closing tommorw. then if he enough, they will close down. BUT so far they havent had many. SO PARETNS, TEACHERS CALL THIS NUMBER (865) 594-1620 and complain! this is uncalled for when every county around us is closing or delaying!! and telling kids not to arrive at the school bus before 5 mins! CALL THAT NUMBER AND COMPLAIN!
OKAY I JUST CALLED THE KNOX COUNTY SUPER. OFFICE, AND APPARENTLY THEY HAVE PUT THEIR ANSWERING MACHINE ON! BUT THE OFFICE DOESN’T CLOSE UNTIL 6. SO EVERYBODY MAKE SURE Y, OU LEAVE A DETAILED MESSAGE ABOUT WHY YOU ARE UPSET!
Yes, school needs to be canceled in the morning. The school calendar has 5 inclement weather days built in. If we don’t use them, we lose them. School doesn’t get out for summer a few days earlier when we don’t use them. There are parents who drop the children off in front of my school before the doors open.
Many of the children in our area do not have appropriate clothing for this type of weather. We are in a recession and many parents do not have the extra money to go out and buy the neccessary coats, gloves, and scarfs. Not closing schools is a classic example of our parents and community not having an appropriate voice in OUR school system.
Well I called and the lady would only tell me to go to the website and read the announcement, so I did. So I have attached the link, read yourself and see if it sounds as stupid to you as it does to me. When my child changes classes she has to go outside the building to another building, wonder if they are going to cage it in and add heat to it.
There is no reason for parents here to buy heavy winter coats because it never gets that cold here and many kids stand outside for around twenty minutes waiting for the bus. (My comment – If it “never gets that cold here” then it must not be that cold here – right?)
I had to include this one because it’s from a Senior in the school system. I am a senior at Claiborne High School and I feel so bad for Knox county students because they honestly never get out for anything. At the temperatures it will be in the morning schools need to be cancelled before they cause every kid in knox county to be sick. Cancel School Tommorrow Knox County!!!!
I dont believe the lack of concern for the safety ,health and welfare of the children of Knox county the schools should close and the kids should stay home and be warm and safe from the frigid cold we have not seen a single digit temp in our county in over 8 years what are they thinking (Nice punctuation! Did you learn that in Knox County schools?)
I hope to God that Knox county has trouble in the morning with buses and stuff, and have to close schools for sure. Knox countys new SUPER. is ridiculious!!!
Another post from a high school student. Would you hire this kid? my cars not gonna start tomorrow. and since knox county obviously has very intelligent officials (hint of sarcasm), they made it optional if i go to school tomorrow. lets see. optional….hmmm. yea. not goin. sorry teachers. really stinks for you. This may be perhaps THE most retarded thing i’ve seen in a long time….and i go to high school. Thats impressive knox country. bravo.
This guy should be fired! Im a bus driver and there is no way that every child in knox county can be at there stop for only five minutes. wake up knox county. I hope the bus drivers dont go. Im not.
I can’t believe this!!! I am a Knox County teacher (4th grade). OPEN BUT WILL EXCUSE ABSENCES!?!?!? So I have to go to work to teach half my class in sub zero wind chills. (umm… Is your class taught outdoors?)
I agree with KnoxCoTeacher, this is a waste of our resources. It would not hurt to just close it for one blasted day. Knox Co. didn’t use their snow days last year, and probably won’t this year. First, parents nowadays don’t care as much for education and use their money for other things then warm clothes for their kids. Older kids dress themselves, so they won’t dress warm because it is not the in thing. I just hope Jim listens to the community and closes school tomorrow.
There are dozens more, but I hope you got the point. It appears that most people in this area – at least from reading the comments on area websites – don’t give a damn about if the kids learn anything or not. They just want a day off and/or don’t want to get up in the morning to get their kids off to school.
That’s the value people here place on education.
gk
