Spoiled

TPS was out again on Friday due to weather conditions. That storm system pretty much killed work for Thursday, too.

Earlier in January, we had two "cold days," at the end of a week. School was cancelled because temperatures in Tulsa, with the wind chill, were hovering just above zero and, according to the superintendent, "there will be safer days in May or June" when kids can be waiting at bus stops.

Fair.

Oh, and it was cold. And who am I to complain about two extra days off of work? Who doesn't love a four day weekend?

That was the first week back from winter break.

A similar situation occured this past week, but it wasn't just the temperature. On Thursday, an ince storm hit Tulsa. Basically, it was below freezing and rain was falling as icicles and literally "icing" surfaces over (cars, buildings, trees, power lines, streets, etc). The storm began mid-day and became more serious in the evening and into the night.

Many students, in anticipation of the weather, did not come to school. About half of the school took that option. Of the other half, many were taken home early by parents to avoid the roads after school. So, by the end of the day when we got confirmation that school was cancelled on Friday due to the storm, most of our students were gone. On Friday, the ice turned to snow and I was glad to not have to drive across a few bridges to go to school!

(Pictures from the storm are on Picasa [http://picasaweb.google.com/omaryjean/WinterInTulsa#]. While it was cold, windy, and snowy, my roommate and I still decided to spend a couple of hours of our day off enjoying the outdoors. We walked from our apartment, which is right on Route 66, to the 21st St. Bridge, about a mile down the Arkansas River. Then, we crossed the bridge and followed the river back to Route 66 and crossed back over to get to our apartment. All in all, a good 2+ mile walk. It was nice, and happened just before the heaviest snow fell. The outcome of this storm system was about 3/4" of solid ice and about 3-4" of snow around my entire car).

To review all of the time we've actually had school since winter break:

Week #1 back (Cold Days) = 3 days of school.

Week #2 = 5 days of school.

Week #3 (MLK week)=4 days of school.

Week #4 (Snow Day) = 4 days of school.

To review upcoming (if all goes to plan):

Week #5 = 5 days

Week #6 (Trade-out day for PD)=4 days

Week #7 (President's Day week)=4 days

Week #8 = 5 days

The point is, in the first two months after a two week winter break, we are having more short weeks than full weeks. This makes those full weeks even more difficult to deal with. The prospect of a full, 5 day week coming up is dreadful...I've been getting so used to more days off!

I'm sure I will survive. But, it does bring me back to my DU days when we only had class Monday-Thursday.

There is discussion about schools in the district going to "extended day" schedules, where we have longer school days over the course of shorter school weeks (so, longer weekends). I almost feel like I could go for that at this point. 3+ day weekends are just so pleasant:-)

We'll see.

Some "freezing fog" is in the forecast for tomorrow a.m. I mean, if it's going to be freezing, and very low visibility, are we sure our children can safely ride the bus?

In relentless pursuit of....something,

~MJ

(hey, we all need a break sometimes)