It’s understandable that severe weather conditions may prevent schools from opening.
In cities like Atlanta, schools may be closed 2-3 days throughout the school year for inclement weather.
The real issue schools face is not snow days!
Regular attendance at school impacts student learning more than snow days.
School leaders are constantly having to “reclaim the time!”
On average, I see between 15-30 scholars daily that come to school late.
Schools that open their doors as early as 7 a.m. have scholars being dropped off by PARENTS well after 8:30 a.m. for school.
Students are missing the start of the school day.
They are missing a lot!
For example, if 1st period begins at 7:50 or 8:00 a.m. but students arrive to school after 8:30 a.m., they’ve missed 1/2 a class.
This is becoming a trend that is greatly affects instructional learning and students ability to grow.
Poor school attendance sets children up to be in a place of constant remediation.
In my opinion, it is not the days missed due to school closings for inclement weather that have such a huge impact on declining student achievement.
The lack of accountability for chronic absences is partially due to family matters.
It’s the lost instructional time on a regular school day that has the most impact on loss due to student absences.
The argument that students aren’t learning because they out for inclement weather just doesn’t work.
More instructional time is lost due to students skipping classes than being out for inclement weather.
Jason has worked in education for over 15 years as a teacher, blogger and community advocate. He speaks and writes primarily about the need to improve education for Black boys, particularly increasing the number of Black male educators in schools. In addition to blogging here at EdLanta, Jason is also a featured writer at Education Post.
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