Football Trumps Education...Attendance

Once again we are told that attendance at school is so important that the B.O.E. is going to take Thanksgiving vacation away from our kids. Just another reason to be thankful for our school system, What would we do without them?

But never fear, school is still closed for the football game. I guess the need to learn and be in school is not as important as a high school football game. Is this game a championship game? Does this game have any importance for the playoffs? Will we also close schools for the games in the dome at the end of the year? This game will not be aired on K-Bay, but for a small fee you can ride the bus, I believe it is only $70 per person.

Why the double standard? We close schools for life threatening conditions, and have to make those days up, but a football game closes schools and no need to make those days up. And lets not forget we were told our kids can't miss more than 7 days of schools or they can play football or any other after school activities. But we can miss it for football. What a double standard. How can these people preach about students missing school and then close it for football. Unbelievable.

Remember some parents on these blogs actually said it was bad parenting if your child missed more than 7 days. That would be those parents who have sick children with chronic illnesses and those who Dad's come back from sea. But we know better. Parents with just a little common sense will tell you, that you have no idea what can happen during a school year and things happen as they do. Sometimes kids are sick longer than a day or two.

Here is the press release the school released on making up the missed days.

Notice September 12. Two weeks just is not enough time, many did not even know school was closed on the 12th.


For Immediate Release 8-28-08
On August 21st and August 22nd, 2008, Camden County Schools were closed due to severe weather associated with Tropical Storm Fay. The rigor of our curriculum and high expectations for student success dictate that we allow students to make up these lost days.
Dates considered for make-up and factors influencing dates ultimately chosen include:
September 1, 2008 – Labor Day proved to be too close to the current date to allow parents sufficient time to change travel plans or make other arrangements.
September 12, 2008 – As a result of the short notice, many students, parents and staff members have already made plans for this long weekend. If more time was available to allow families to alter plans, this date would have been viable.
October 8th through October 10th, 2008 – Student holidays/Teacher Professional Enhancement Conference. Contractual agreements with conference facilitators and reliance of some staff on Professional Learning Units (PLU) during this conference made these dates an unrealistic choice. Using these dates would require additional time away from the classroom to recover the PLU credits lost by teachers and require additional costs to break existing contracts. These dates would also require staff to work an additional two days some time later in the year since they are already included as part of the 190 day calendar.
November 11, 2008 – Veterans Day was considered as a possible make-up day but only briefly. Although Veterans Day was not removed from the table altogether as a make-up day option, the consensus was to use this day as a last resort. Hurricane season is still active and there remains the potential for additional school closings. If necessary, this date will be used to make-up additional days.
December 22nd and 23rd – Using these dates from the winter break would cause high school students to miss two additional days of critical instruction because the dates fall after the completion of the End of Course Tests (EOCT).
These factors all influence student learning, school personnel and the community. Weighing each of the factors led the administration to select November 24th and November 25th, 2008, as make-up days for those missed during Tropical Storm Fay.
The decision to convene school on the first two days of the Thanksgiving break was reached with full knowledge that this may present a hardship for some. A decision that met the needs of all 9,700 students and their families was impossible. These dates will be the least disruptive for the largest number of stakeholders.